Sperberg v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.

61 F.R.D. 80, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1057, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13768
District Court, N.D. Ohio·Decided May 4, 1973·No. Civ. No. C72-1067·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KRUPANSKY, District Judge.

Lawrence R. Sperberg brought this action on October 5, 1972 against Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (hereafter termed “Firestone”), General Tire and Rubber Company (hereafter termed “General”), B. F. Goodrich Tire Company (hereafter termed “Goodrich”), Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (hereafter termed “Goodyear”), and Uniroyal Tire Company (hereafter termed “Uniroyal”), each on behalf of itself and as representatives of others similarly situated. The complaint alleges that Sperberg is the owner of Patent No. 3,563,088 (hereafter termed ’088), issued on February 16, 1971 and entitled “Nondestructive Method of Determining Tire Life.” The complaint further alleges that the five representative defendants are infringing patent ’088, and that there exists a class whose [81]*81members are infringing patent ’088 without leave or license from plaintiff.

Sperberg has filed a motion pursuant to Rule 37, Fed.R.Civ.P. to order General, Goodrich and Goodyear to conduct an interparty test pursuant to Rule 34, Fed.R.Civ.P. The requested test is identical, or almost identical, as to each party. The first paragraph of the request reads as follows (General is hereafter designated, but the request applies equally to Goodrich and Goodyear):

Plaintiff, pursuant to Rule 34 F.R.C.P., requests The General Tire-& Rubber Company (hereinafter General) “. . . to test, or sample . ” tires in accordance with the tire test set forth below; to permit the entry of plaintiff and his representatives upon the land or property of General where such testing is to be performed to observe the selection of the tires and such testing; and to produce for inspection and copying all data, information and the like accumulated in the preparation for and the carrying out of such testing.

Thereafter the requested interparty test is set out in detail, covering approximately four and one-half pages, in paragraphs consecutively numbered from 1 through 8.

In paragraph numbered 1 of the test General is to, “Select a minimum of three (3) passenger tires from a large population of like tires . . .” and then defines selection criteria. Paragraph 2 states in part that General, Goodrich and Goodyear are to, “Identify each selected tire by a number code which includes the measured radial and lateral force variations.” Paragraph 2 subsequently states, “Further, suitably expanded chart tracings of the force variations are to be made and keyed to the individual selected tires by the number code.” Paragraph 3 states in part that General is to “Select at least one (1) tire from each radial force category as defined in paragraph (1) above for subsequent indoor wheel endurance testing. . . .” General is to subject the tires to a standard indoor wheel durability performance test “as performed daily by General,” and then is to, “Record the miles to failure, hours to failure, speed at failure, and load at failure, individually and collectively, as required at which each tire fails and in the manner conventional to General, describe the failure and locate the failure. .” Paragraph 4 states in part that General is to “Perform standard regression analyses using a suitable and identifiable equation for the analyses wherein the radial force variation is identified as the governing factor and the miles to failure, hours to failure, speed at failure, or load at failure as the factors being governed.” Paragraph 4 concludes “Determine the correlation coefficients and the standard deviations of variations.”

The test then continues in paragraph 5 to state that the tests defined in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 are “to be performed at General’s facilities and at General’s expensé, or at General’s option by plaintiff at a suitable location at plaintiff’s expense. If plaintiff is selected by General to perform the test and General also performs a similar test, the results of both tests and the analyses shall be made of record.”

The test continues in paragraph 6 to state that General is to select at least two tires from “each radial force category as identified in paragraph (1) above, for outdoor performance testing .” Paragraph 6 then takes nearly an entire page to go into fairly specific detail concerning what General is to do in its outdoor performance testing. The testing is to be conducted under standard conditions of load, speed, inflation, tire rotation, and test route, “as would normally be tendered to an evaluation when twenty (20) tires are being compared, with the further proviso that one (1) tire of each radial force category” is to be assigned at any time to the front axle while the remaining tire is [82]*82assigned to the rear axle, with one tire being assigned to the left side of the vehicle and the other tire to the right side of the vehicle. On the other hand, if all tires “are run on a convoy” the test procedure shall call for rotation of tires between test vehicles, but the tires may or may not be rotated through front and rear axles “at the discretion of the tester.” The test further requires that the tires be inspected and measured for tread loss and weight loss. In addition the tires are to be “road tested to failure or bald. The failed or bald test tires and all data developed shall be retained for the record.” Furthermore, “Suitable regression analyses shall be performed wherein the radial force variation shall be considered the governing thing. . . .” In addition “Correlation coefficients and standard deviations of variation shall be determined. .” Paragraph 7 then repeats paragraph 5 except that it refers to paragraph 6.

Paragraph 8 then gives an option to General with reference to the categories identified in paragraph 1, stating that the tires “may be processed by a tire uniformity optimizer machine, restricting the optimizing operation according to General’s current practice, such current practice shall be made of record.” Paragraph 8 states that the option set forth in paragraph 8 “is in addition to the tests outlined above in paragraphs (1) through (7) and is not in replacement thereof.”

Sperberg’s request can be divided into two distinct parts: (1) the primary request, pursuant to the opening paragraph, and paragraphs 5 and 7, is that General, Goodrich and Goodyear are to perform various described tests; (2) alternately, pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 7, plaintiff shall perform the described tests, but only if requested to do so by the defendants.

The defendants have stated that they have no objection to a proper interparty test pursuant to Rule 84(a), with an appropriate protective order, but they contend that plaintiff’s request goes beyond Rule 34 in that it compels them to carry out a test procedure devised by plaintiff, rather than to carry out their normal daily operations.

Rule 34(a), Fed.R.Civ.P., states:
Scope.

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Sperberg v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 61 F.R.D. 80, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1057, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13768 (N.D. Ohio 1973).

61 F.R.D. 80 (Sperberg v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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