In re Bridgestone/Firestone Tires Products Liability Litigation (Bridgestone/Firestone I)

After widespread Firestone tire failures on Ford Explorers, plaintiffs sued Ford and Firestone (defendants) both for physical injuries from the defect and for purely financial harms like diminished resale value. A group of plaintiffs sought nationwide class certification in a consolidated Indianapolis suit, and the district judge certified two nationwide classes — covering Explorer owners and separately certain Firestone tire owners — applying the law of each defendant's corporate headquarters state (Michigan for Ford, Tennessee for Firestone) under Indiana's choice-of-law rules. Ford and Firestone sought interlocutory review.