Cooper Sanctioned for Destroying Documents

A U.S. district court judge granted two of three sanction requests against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., saying the company destroyed documents that probably were pertinent to a wrongful death case concerning tire defects.

Two brothers, survivors of a 1998 car crash that killed their parents and siblings, sought sanctions against Cooper for destroying evidence as they take the company to court in a separate wrongful death case.

U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. said he would allow the plaintiffs to inform the jury in the wrongful death case that documents were destroyed, and that the jury may infer that those documents would have been damaging to Cooper.