A jury in San Miguel County, New Mexico, ordered Michelin North America Inc. to pay a Texas family $220 million on Friday. The jury found the company liable for a 2021 crash that killed three members of the family.

In the summer of 2021, Laura Zamarippa, Rosalva Marin, and Alexis Zamarippa died when, according to the lawsuit, “suddenly and without warning, the front driver side Michelin tire experienced a catastrophic tread separation.”

Zamarippa was driving a Ford Excursion on a rural highway in Gaines County, Texas, with Rosalva and Alexis as passengers. The tire failure caused the Excursion to veer into oncoming traffic, resulting in a head-on collision with another vehicle.

Authorities pronounced Laura Zamarippa and Rosalva Marin dead at the scene. An air ambulance transported Laura’s son, Alexis Zamarippa, to a hospital, where he passed away.

The jury placed 100% of the liability on Michelin

Eleazar Marin, the vehicle’s owner, purchased the four Michelin LTX M tires on the Ford Excursion from Discount Tire Co. of New Mexico. The lawsuit also named Discount Tire as a defendant, but the jury placed all liability for the tire failure on Michelin.

“Michelin fought hard — all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court — in an effort to not produce certain emails and documents that had not been produced before,” said attorney Wes Ball of Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball in Houston. “The court denied that request, and we believe those materials introduced at trial were key in showing Michelin’s decision to gamble with people’s lives.”