Mr. Kaster has been involved in numerous tread separation lawsuits against Cooper Tire across the United States for more than a decade.  As a result of these lawsuits he has accumulated voluminous information concerning Cooper’s inappropriate manufacturing practices and the design defects in their tires.   In the Whitaker/Hervey vs. Cooper case, which gained nationwide recognition, Mr. Kaster and his co-counsel, Paul Byrd and Jerry Kelly, learned that Cooper Tire Company was the only manufacturer in the country which used an icepick-like device to puncture new tires through the tread, down to the inner liner, before they were sold to the public.  He also learned through depositions of former employees, Martin Mahan, Jack Kirby and Doug Eaton of other inappropriate manufacturing practices which Mr. Kaster and his co-counsel verified during a plant inspection.  Some of the manufacturing anomalies contained in the depositions include curing of foreign material in tires, including chicken bones, wrenches, screws, and even a live shotgun shell.

Since the Whitaker/Hervey case, Mr. Kaster has deposed scores of past Cooper plant employees and corporate representatives in reference to tires manufactured at all Cooper Tire facilities including Tupelo, Albany, Findlay and Texarkana.  Accordingly, he is thoroughly familiar with Cooper’s widespread manufacturing and design problems in their tires which lead to tread belt separations.  As a result of extensive analysis of Cooper tires and cross-sectioning of tires of other major manufacturers, we have learned that Cooper is the only modern tire manufacturer who did not use a wedge in their steel belted radial tire.  This is a critical counter-measure to reduce the hazard of tread belt separations.  When Firestone reduced the size of their wedge, their separations increased.  In subsequent lawsuits across the United States from Florida to California, Mr. Kaster and the team of lawyers he works with continued to uncover disturbing and damaging facts about Cooper Tire, some of which have been made public through the press, but most of which has been kept secret through protective orders entered by courts at Cooper’s insistence.  Mr. Kaster has shared all of the unprotected information that has become available to him with other lawyers and will continue to do so.  He is also fighting to have the protected information released so that it can be shared as well.

 At the present time Mr. Kaster is involved in a consolidated litigation against Cooper Tire ongoing in California.  This litigation has resulted in extensive discovery of Cooper Tire manufacturing and design defects.  He also has other Cooper tread separation cases pending in state and federal courts across the country.  Mr. Kaster maintains a list of known tread separation accidents/incidents involving tread separation of Cooper tires.

If you are an attorney handling a tire accident lawsuit and have questions about tire defects, tread separations or blowouts, contact Bruce Kaster at (352) 622-1600 or send e-mail to [email protected].