Court orders Goodyear to pay nearly $37 million in Texas roll-over case

May 3, 2002

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has been ordered to pay $36.9 million to the estate and family of a Texas man who died last year from injuries sustained when his truck rolled over.

Paul Rios Jr. of Hebbronville, Texas, lost control of his truck after one of its tires, a Kelly Safari AWR, reportedly came apart.

The tire was nine years old and had been puncture-repaired four times, according to a Goodyear spokesman.

Rios bought it from a local Quick Lube a couple of days before the crash.

"Who knows how many times it had been re-sold?" says the Goodyear spokesman.

Plaintiffs alleged that Goodyear knew the tire was defective.