Cooper Tire and GM Compensate Survivors of Woman Killed in Rollover

The Ammons Law Firm has successfully negotiated the settlement of a product liability case brought against Cooper Tire and GM on behalf of the husband and children surviving a 42-year-old Utah woman who was killed when the Chevrolet Silverado she was driving rolled over following a tire failure. On a Nevada highway, the pickup’s right rear tire, a Futura Adventurer, suffered a tread separation, causing the vehicle to spin onto the highway’s gravel shoulder where it then rolled over. The woman died at the scene.

In their lawsuit, the Plaintiffs alleged that the tire failed because Cooper Tire had built it using contaminated materials and rubber that was not formulated to resist fatigue. It was also alleged that the tire’s components were not assembled properly during the building process and that the tire lacked critical safety features proven to prevent or reduce the risk of tread separation failures.

With respect to the Silverado, it was alleged that the vehicle was defective because it was not crashworthy and that its defective condition caused the head injuries that resulted in the woman’s death. Specifically, Plaintiffs contended that GM designed and manufactured the Silverado with a weak roof that collapses in rollovers and with seat belts that do not properly couple occupants to their seats in such crashes.

The settlement was also reached with a third defendant, the company that owned and maintained the vehicle. The plaintiffs alleged that because the tire that failed was 11 years old, the company was negligent in keeping the tire in service on the vehicle.

The Ammons Law Firm is located in Houston, Texas, and practices personal injury law, including cases involving: tire defects, oil rig explosions, truck accidents, plant explosions, refinery accidents, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, seatback defects, airbag defects, SUV rollovers, and workplace negligence.