After close to 50 years of existence in one incarnation or another, the Northeast Ohio Regional Tire Dealers Association (NORTDA) is no more.
"It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that as an association, NORTDA has been disbanded," wrote Jeff Smith in the Sept. 22, 2004, issue of NORTDA Shoptalk.
"I want to assure you that your board of directors, Joan and Bill Floyd and myself have done everything possible to avoid this; however, we just had no choice left in the end.
"A lawsuit was brought against our association this past year. This lawsuit caused the board to review its future liability for such suits. The board concluded that the cost of insurance to protect the association from such risks exceeded NORTDA´s potential resources."
Smith also is owner of Smitty´s Car Service in Doylestown, Ohio.
NORTDA was not an original part of the civil lawsuit, which was filed in the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas in December 2003, but was added as a third party defendant. The plaintiff in the case is asking for $25,000 in damages. The suit is still pending; a settlement conference was held in July.
NORTDA began as the Greater Akron (Ohio) Tire Dealers Association in the 1950s. In October 1967, the group decided to incorporate its name.
The Greater Akron dealers and the Cleveland Tire Dealers Association formed the Ohio Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association "to provide all independent tire dealers in Ohio a voice with state agencies and the legislature," according to Joan Floyd, the group´s executive secretary, who runs NORTDA with her husband, Bill.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Tire Dealers Inc., known as NORTDA, came into existence in 1973 when the group expanded.
