Judge rules against Cooper in document case

JACKSON, Miss. (July 31)—A Mississippi circuit judge has ordered Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. to turn over a long list of documents—including documents produced in a highly publicized Arkansas wrongful death case—to the plaintiffs' attorneys in a new case. "Cooper Tire has engaged upon a course of conduct exhibiting an attitude that it does not have to provide documents or even the barest information about them unless and until plaintiffs discover from other sources that they exist," wrote Judge Bobby DeLaughter in his decision, which also fines Cooper $10,000 a day for every day after July 31 that they do not provide the documents. In a prepared statement, Cooper accused trial lawyers of "attempting to put companies back on their heels and making it nearly impossible to comply with rulings/requests and try the cases on their merits." The company is reviewing its options, it added.