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Fla. Woman Wins $750K From Cooper Tire Over Husband's Death

A Florida state court jury has awarded the widow of a man killed in a minivan rollover accident $750,000 in damages, finding that a defective Cooper tire led to the crash.

The jury in the Palm Beach County Circuit Court set damages for plaintiff Tavilia Pierre at $1.5 million. The court later reduced that amount by half to reflect the jury's allocation of 35 percent responsibility to her husband, Louissaint, and 15 percent responsibility to the driver.

Attorney Gregory T. Zele of Lytal, Reiter, Clark, Fountain & Williams in West Palm Beach, who represented the plaintiff, applauded the ruling.

"We can only hope that no other family has to suffer such a great tragedy as a result of a manufacturing defect," Zele said in a statement.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. spokeswoman Patricia Brown issued a statement saying the company will appeal, adding that the M/S Radial XL tire in question was worn out and should have been replaced.

According to the complaint, Johnny Telsume was driving Louissaint Pierre's 1993 Toyota Previa minivan June 5, 2005, when the tire suffered a blowout or tread separation.

Pierre, a passenger in the vehicle, was wearing his seat belt, his wife claimed. Despite this precaution, he was killed along with the driver when the Previa rolled over, she said.

Tavilia Pierre alleged that Cooper used design and manufacturing processes that were "not common, usual, customary, prudent or in accordance with established industry standards" and that the result was a tire prone to "failure, blowout, tread and belt separation and resulting loss of vehicle control."

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