Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Auto tire affilliation, fact or fraud?

In addition to being an attorney, I'm an engineer and a car nut. I believe that Firestone (an American Co.) may have a financial interest in Bridgestone (a Japanese Co.), but I believe their manufacturing facilities (at least a couple of years back) had no integration or overlap. I happen to like Bridgestone and have used them on several vehicles. On my 4WD Chevy Blazer, they handled very well, and I managed to get a lot of mileage out of them.

In other words, I'd put Bridgestone tires on my wife's or mother's car with confidence. There are lots of things to be concerned about in out daily lives, but tis is something I would not put any more thought into.

Even IF Bridgestone was owned by Firestone and they shared manufacturing facilities, for any legal action, I think you would need to show either there was a problem with th etires installed, or that they KNEW Bridgestone was owned by Firestone and they shared manufacturing facilities. I highly doubt if you could do either of these things. Even if you could, what are your damages? Best case scenario, IF you cold show a violation of the PA Consumer Fraud Act, your damages may be the value of the tires (maybe $500) times 3 ($1,500). You may also get attoneys fees, but I wold be shocked if any atty would take this case, because atty fees are not guarnteed, and the atty fees would be several times any possible recovery, even IF you could win.

Good luck to you.

Kevin J. Begley