Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. agreed to pay $236 million to settle a class action case over Entran II radiant tubing. While some details need to still be worked out, a U.S. district court judge in New Jersey approved the deal last October.
The settlement covers property owners in Colorado and New Mexico. Goodyear says the settlement depends on whether enough property owners accept the terms.
The settlement does not include property owners in six New England states and Canada. It also does not include 34 property owners in Colorado who were awarded $10 million last summer by a federal judge in Denver. A jury in that case found that Entran II was defective and that Goodyear was negligent in designing and making the tubing.
Goodyear, meanwhile, is appealing that decision, in part, since it conflicts with a legal decision reached almost four years ago, where a federal jury found Goodyear not at fault for manufacturing Entran II. Goodyear has maintained that the tubing’s original marketer, Heatway Systems, is to blame for the tubing failures by not informing contractors and homeowners of proper design, installation and maintenance procedures. Following the 2000 decision, Heatway declared bankruptcy, was acquired and is now known as Watts Radiant.
Between 1989 and 1993, Goodyear manufactured 25 million feet of orange rubber Entran II tubing, sold in North America for radiant and snowmelt applications. During the 1990s, homeowners began having problems with the tubing as it hardened and began disintegrating. Black sludge flooded basements and ruined mechanical parts of the heating systems.
