FedEx, Goodyear Sued After Tire Blowout Results In Death

FedEx and Goodyear are facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a blown tire caused a vehicle accident that resulted in the death of an area father. The family blames FedEx for driving on a defective tire and Goodyear is being blamed for manufacturing the tire. However, there are multiple arguments being made and some of them will cancel each other out.

As an example, FedEx is being blamed for driving on a retread tire with multiple obvious defects. FedEx is certainly liable since deliverymen must check the tires prior to any delivery. So if a tire blowout occurs and it’s related to an obvious defect on the tire, then the driver and the company are liable. In this case, the tire was nearly bald, according to the plaintiffs.

However, the allegations against Goodyear for product liability may be easily defeated on the same grounds. If the tire was a retread, then the retreader would be responsible if tread separation occurs—not Goodyear, since the tire has been adulterated by the retreading process.

In other words, if the retreader is responsible for the faulty retread, then Goodyear is not responsible for a product defect and vice versa.

The accident 

It sounds, according to the article, as if the father struck a FedEx truck that had pulled over after blowing a tire. In most tire blowout cases, the truck blows out the tire while it is in motion, slams into another vehicle, and causes injury or death. In this case, the victim appears to have collided with a stationary vehicle.

If the vehicle was not in motion when the accident occurred, the plaintiff will have to do more work to convince the court that FedEx was responsible. For example, if the FedEx driver left his vehicle around a blind turn, then that would be obvious negligence. If the victim had no other option than the crash into the FedEx truck, that would indicate FedEx is responsible.

FedEx will claim that the driver was not paying attention to the road which is why he crashed into the back of a stationary truck.

While it’s common for people to believe that a driver who rear-ends another driver is always responsible for an accident, there are several scenarios that give rise to the opposite finding, they just aren’t quite as likely as those that don’t.

FedEx announced plans to defend the lawsuit, meaning that they will fight the allegations against them.

If the case were filed in Florida, FedEx could be held responsible even if a jury found them mostly not-at-fault for the accident. The driver could be held 99% liable and FedEx would still be responsible for paying 1% of the judgment. In other states, there is a bar of 50% liability to force a payment.

Talk to a Miami Wrongful Death Lawyer Today 

Injured by a commercial truck or vehicle? Call the Miami personal injury lawyers at Payer Law today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.

Source:

businessinsider.com/fedex-goodyear-wrongful-death-lawsuit-fiery-car-crash-2022-12