LOS ANGELES (April 5)—A Michelin LTX tire on a church van involved in a rollover crash contained no manufacturing defects, a jury before a Riverside County (Calif.) circuit court has ruled.
Six women who were members of a Catholic church in Phoenix received injuries of varying severity in the accident. The jury did find St. Theresa's Parish and the Archdiocese of Phoenix liable for the crash.
Impact damage incurred some 1,000 miles before the accident caused the tire to fail, said Thomas Dodson of Smithers Scientific Services Inc. in Akron, Michelin's expert witness during the trial.
"Michelin was confident of the facts of the case, and is pleased the jury saw that this tire was properly manufactured," the Greenville, S.C.-based tire maker said in a prepared statement. There was no immediate word on whether the plaintiffs planned to appeal.