A 15-passenger van carrying five occupants suffered a left rear tire blowout and full tread separation while traveling at highway speeds in rural Missouri. The tire failure caused the van to leave the roadway and roll over several times. During the crash, two of the occupants seated in the rear of the van suffered fatal injuries and three others were also injured. Partners Donald R. Fountain and Ben J. Whitman brought product liability defect claims against the designers and manufacturers of both the tire and van.

The tire manufacturer claimed the tire blowout was caused by a nail hole in the tire tread, but the Clark Fountain team presented evidence that the reason for the tire blowout were errors in the manufacturing process – causing the tire’s components to fail to adhere together properly.