A New Mexico jury has returned a $220 million verdict, finding that the Michelin North America tire company was liable for a deadly crash that killed three members of a Texas family in the summer of 2021.
Laura Zamarippa, Rosalva Marin and 14-year-old Alexis Zamarippa died when a Michelin-produced LTX M tire installed on the front driver’s side violently separated while the three family members were driving on a rural highway in Gaines County, Texas.
The failure caused the car being driven by Laura Zamarippa to veer into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision with another vehicle. As a result of the crash, Zamarippa and Marin were pronounced dead at the scene, while Alexis died shortly after being transported to a medical facility by air ambulance.
The faulty tire was purchased at a store operated by Discount Tire Company of New Mexico, also a defendant in the case. The jury placed 100% of the liability for the tire failure on Michelin.
“Michelin fought hard — all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court — in an effort to not produce certain emails and documents that had not been produced before,” said attorney Wes Ball of Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball in Houston. “The court denied that request, and we believe those materials introduced at trial were key in showing Michelin’s decision to gamble with people’s lives.”
