Lethal Secrets

Tires that shred with often deadly consequences; heart valves that fail; gas tanks that ignite in auto accidents; birth control devices that lead to death or infertility in women--these are just a few among dozens of defective products for which manufacturers have shelled out big bucks to settle damage suits.

While victims or family members in these cases were compensated for injuries, as they should have been, over the years these settlements have extracted too high a price from the public at large. Confidentiality clauses, typically a part of such settlements, force plaintiffs to keep secret the details concerning dangerous products. The defective tires or drugs or medical devices stay on the market, inevitably causing more injuries and deaths.

The magnitude of the Firestone recall announced last month--6.5 million tires--is creating pressure to limit the decades-old practice of sealing court documents in such cases, a change that has been far too long in coming. Documents released last week indicate that Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and possibly Ford Motor Co. knew about a pattern of tire failures for at least several months before the recall. Long before that, the companies had quietly settled cases involving injuries and deaths in tire-related crashes, without acknowledging liability. Plaintiffs, as a condition of settlement, had to keep secret such details as the alleged tire defects and the amounts of the settlements. Similar practices exist in cases involving a growing range of products.

Some plaintiffs may agree to secrecy to protect their own privacy. Yet secrecy more often benefits manufacturers. Lawyers who bring new injury claims must discover the evidence anew in each case, rolling the same boulder uphill over and over again, often at great expense.

Legislative proposals that would bar manufacturers from sealing court records in cases where public safety is threatened have died in Washington and Sacramento. A federal remedy is the most sensible; the same rules should govern plaintiffs in California and New Jersey injured by the same product. A bill now before the Senate Judiciary Committee, S 957, introduced by Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.), would bar settlements that keep secret information relevant to the protection of public health and safety. Manufacturers have claimed that such measures would reveal their trade secrets. Kohl’s bill would protect proprietary information but stop corporations from buying silence at the public’s expense. It should become law.