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Survivors say they won’t settle with tire company after losing grandfather, 13-year old 

LOS ANGELES – The Meek family hoped their trip from California to Wyoming nearly two years ago would be a memorable family outing. 

Instead, it became a nightmare when a Firestone tire blew out on their Ford Explorer, causing a rollover that killed Garry Lynn Meek and his 13-year-old granddaughter. 

On Wednesday, the survivors go to court in California’s first trial relating to the nationwide recall two years ago of Bridgestone/Firestone tires and the rollover of Ford vehicles equipped with those tires. In lawsuits filed elsewhere against Ford and Firestone, the companies have settled before verdicts could be reached. 

Neither the Meeks family nor their lawyers would comment for this story, but family members previously said they wouldn’t settle with the companies. 

“Garry Lynn Meek and Amy Lynn Meek. That was their names, and I want the companies to know that,” Garry’s son, James, told The Associated Press last year. 

The California case could be the first in which there is a verdict. 

“This is every company’s worst nightmare — plaintiffs with a legally plausible case who refuse” to discuss a settlement, said professor Heidi Li Feldman, a litigation expert and legal theorist at Georgetown University Law Center. “It’s also why you can expect to see a fight from Ford and Firestone.” 

Representatives of Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone said the companies maintain that a previously damaged tire caused the accident. 

“We are always concerned when any of our customers are involved in any accident. But in this case, the Meek tire had three prior punctures, three improper repairs and a slice in the side wall. The fact that it lasted 68,000 miles ... just shows it was an unfortunate accident,” Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said. 

“Everyone has to take personal responsibility for maintaining their tires. You can’t disregard your own responsibility for maintaining equipment,” she said. 

Bridgestone/Firestone spokeswoman Christine Karbowiak said the company will try to show that several factors played a role in the accident. 

“We believe once a jury is presented with all the facts, they will ... see there were a number of other reasons the tire could have failed,” she said. 

Jury selection in the wrongful death lawsuit is scheduled to begin Wednesday. Opening arguments are expected early next week. 

More than 250 people were killed and hundreds more injured in accidents involving Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. tires. Most of the accidents involved Ford Explorers and tires losing their tread. 

In August 2000, the Nashville-based tire company recalled 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires, many sold as standard equipment on Explorers. 

Last November, state attorneys general across the nation announced that Bridgestone/Firestone would pay $41.5 million in a settlement to end state lawsuits over the tires. Ford has not settled with the attorneys general. 

Hundreds of people are pursuing legal action against the companies. 

The Meek lawsuit alleges the two companies knew about the tire failures months before the recall. 

Garry and Amy Meek were killed Aug. 16, 2000, near Big Piney, Wyo., after the tread separated on the left rear tire of the Meeks’ Explorer, causing the vehicle to roll, authorities said. 

Garry Meek, a former police chief and school board president in Farmersville, near Fresno, was ejected and killed instantly. His granddaughter was pronounced dead at a hospital. 

Meek’s wife, Jeanette Meek, was driving and survived. Her son, daughter-in-law and another granddaughter followed behind in another vehicle and witnessed the accident. 

“In an instant, they were gone,” Jeanette Meek told The Associated Press last year. “Then I find out these two major American companies knew about these problems and didn’t tell us. They took my husband and my granddaughter, and now I want to know why?” 

Although Ford has settled several lawsuits, the company has said the tires were defective and not the fault of the Ford Explorer design. 

Bridgestone/Firestone has said Ford’s recommended inflation rate was too low and contributed to tire failures. Last year, the two companies ended a nearly century-long relationship. 

“There’s too much at stake for Ford to make even a partial admission,” said Sean McAliden, an economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Georgetown law professor Feldman compared the case to a previous one against Dow Corning over breast implants. 

Dow settled numerous lawsuits until a California jury awarded a multi-million judgment against the company in 1991. Afterward, the company faced a flurry of lawsuits and ended up paying millions more. 

Ford and Firestone face a similar situation, Feldman said. 

“Up until the California verdict, Dow Corning had been settling cases, but there had been no judgment. Once there was, it opened up the floodgates,” she said.