in the court of appeals of the state - Mississippi Supreme Court

jury out, restated what theories would and would not be going to the jury. He said that there
was “simply no evidence” before the court on the Kirby plaintiffs’ design defect claim which
could be submitted to the jury. He said there was some testimony in the Beale Robinson
deposition about the tread-throw problem in other vehicles and how Goodyear looked into
the problem including all of its vehicles. But he found there was not enough evidence to go
to the jury on a design defect theory. He then reminded the attorneys for Goodyear that the
defense should not have to cover the design defect theory with its final witness as the court
had previously directed a verdict on the issue, and he intended to submit a jury instruction
to that effect. The trial court announced that he was allowing the case to go to the jury on
a single theory – breach of an express warranty – whether the tires failed to perform to
Goodyear’s expressed representations that the tires would perform at a speed of up to 112
miles per hour for a useful life of 50,000 miles, and that the tire with only 10,000 miles on
it had a sudden catastrophic failure.
23. The trial judge said there was “very strong expert testimony” by the Kirby plaintiffs’
expert Ochs about the separation of the tire’s belts followed by the contact with the road and
how the tire deteriorated through the different stages. Further the court said that there was
testimony that the tire was checked the day before the accident and was found to be properly
inflated and to be without problems. He reaffirmed the reasons he gave for denying
Goodyear’s directed verdict motion. Those reasons being that the testimony for the plaintiffs
showed that: (1) without warning the right-rear Goodyear tire catastrophically failed within
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