BELLEVILLE - Widow Kerry Wickline of Caseyville filed a wrongful death suit against a tire shop ten miles away and a tire manufacturer in China.
The plaintiff's husband, Rudy Wickline, died last June at age 45 after his Freightliner truck rolled over on Illinois Route 158.
Kerry Wickline retained Lanny Darr of Alton, who sued Clinton J. Goodall Tire Company of Belleville in St. Clair County Circuit Court on Dec. 21.
She also sought damages from Shanghai Huayi Group, which Darr identified throughout the complaint by its former name Double Coin.
Darr claimed the left front steering tire suffered catastrophic separation of tread from steel radial belts.
He added that it failed in the absence of any adverse weather conditions, road hazards, misuse, or interference from other vehicles or road obstructions.
Darr alleged Double Coin negligently designed, developed, tested, approved, manufactured, advertised and sold it.
He claimed Double Coin had a duty to design and manufacture a tire that wouldn’t separate.
He claimed the belts and the adhesion between tread and belts were inadequate, and the edges of belts “had a proclivity to delaminate from the surrounding structures.”
Darr alleged Double Coin’s negligent acts included failures to adopt or enforce quality controls, test with sufficient care, or adopt alternative designs.
He claimed it failed to recall the tire or issue warnings in light of the claims history.
The suit states that Wickline’s employer, Mid America Concrete, bought the vehicle and tires in 2020.
The tire was allegedly almost nine years old when Goodall Tire inspected it in 2022.
“Upon discovery of the advanced age, the subject tire should have been taken out of service,” he wrote.