Ford, BFS settle Ala. rollover suit

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (Jan. 9)—Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone have settled a lawsuit in Alabama with the family of a civil rights leader who was killed in 2000 in a rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer and a Seiberling tire. The terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, and neither company admitted any guilt. BFS said the tire involved, a Seiberling II model, had been out of service for up to seven years before it was re-sold and mounted on the vehicle the day before the accident. It didn't match the other tires on the vehicle. The companies already had settled with two other plaintiffs, Samimah Aziz and driver Ademah Hackshaw, a passenger and the driver, respectively. Earl Shinhoster, a former acting director of the U.S. civil rights group NAACP, died on June 11, 2000, when the Ford Explorer he was riding in flipped several times after the tire blew out. The accident happened along Interstate 85 near Tuskegee. At the time, he was part of a security motorcade allegedly traveling 80 mph in a 70 mph zone.