This Tuesday, millionaire trial attorney Mikal Watts made this statement about a possible Goodyear Tire Co. factory closing in Tyler, TX, "We need trade policies to keep American jobs in America and in places like Tyler, and prevent the shutdown of good productive factories," according to the Longview News-Journal.
What Watts forgot about was one of the highest profile cases he and his law firm were involved with was against the Firestone company. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not against trial lawyers. They do good work in standing up for the common guy against possibly dangerous products and huge corporations, bringing possibly deadly malfunctions and product design problems to light.
What Watts seems to forget, though, was a statement he made in January, 2001, after a court ruled Firestone responsible for a blow-out accident. Under the settlement, Donna Bailey received an undisclosed sum of money-"enough to take care of her for the rest of her life," Watts said in the Chicago Sun Times.
Six months later, Firestone was announcing the closing of a Decatur, Illinois plant. Bridgestone/Firestone said 1,380 employees and 100 contractors work at the plant. Another 440 Decatur workers had been laid off after the tire incidents. Since the recall, the plant has only been producing half of the 30,000 tires a day it was designed to produce, said John McQuade, the company's vice president of manufacturing operations [CBS].
Once again, I'm not against the fact that Firestone had to recall millions of tires - that had to be done, but Watts can't be standing at the Goodyear plant, calling for jobs and factories to stay in America, while touting the settlement he scored against a nearly identical company, forcing nearly several nearly identical factories to close nationwide.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Mikal Watts: Two-Faced on American Jobs
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6 comments:
This argument defies logic. I myself am a strong supporter of keeping jobs in the USA. I am also, a strong supporter of holding companies acocuntable when they fail to make safe products and subsequently injure someone. Companies should keep their jobs in America and make safe products.
The fact that Mr. Watts sued Firestone for the tires that injured or killed hundreds of people bears none on his committment to keeping jobs in the USA.
You should know better than to make such a baseless and irrational argument.
But the fact remains that at least he should be avoiding tire factories. It's fine if he says we should be keeping jobs in America, at the Campbells factory that Cornyn was last week, or wherever else, but at least avoid the same industry that you helped to discredit!
SO let me get this straight....Mikal Watts sues a company that is cutting costs and making a defective product which is KILLING people. His lawsuits lead to millions of defective tires, that are KILLING people, being recalled. The corporation, which was cutting corners to make higher profits (read negligent) has to make new tires which are safe and no longer KILL people.
Instead the corporation outsources jobs and closes a plant and blames it on trial lawyers. And they must be thrilled to have gullible folks like you parroting their message and using it against the guy who, with his client, stood up to them and forced them to quit KILLING people.
In my barrio they habve a word for folks like you and it starts with a big P.
So Mr. Anonymous,
If you might have cared to read the full post, you may have read, "I'm not against trial lawyers. They do good work in standing up for the common guy against possibly dangerous products and huge corporations, bringing possibly deadly malfunctions and product design problems to light," or later on where it says, "Once again, I'm not against the fact that Firestone had to recall millions of tires - that had to be done."
I doubt that if Watts wore a t-shirt around the picnic saying, "I sued tire manufacturers for $100M," I doubt the factory workers would come up running to congratulate him on a job well done.
(Different "anonymous")
It's Firestone's fault the jobs were lost. They had built up their business on a faulty product and, when they were forced to fix the flaw, were unable to sustain their current level of operations. Watts did the right thing.
I didn't say Watts didn't do the right thing by bringing the product flaws to light, but rather that he can't tout setting up someone that will be very well off for life, and then a few years later stand at a Goodyear factory picnic. Do you think that if he started off his speech, "I won a $100 Million judgment against a major tire company"... that he would be cheered on? (Well, he probably would because it was a competitor), but I'm not criticizing him for the lawsuit, or for the statement, it's the combination of the two that gets a sideways eyebrow from me.. That's all.
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