The operation was both spectacular and unprecedented. On Tuesday, May 14, a series of raids were carried out in several European countries against Goodyear, the world's third-largest tire manufacturer behind Bridgestone and Michelin, with annual sales of almost $4 billion. The judicial offensive, confirmed to Le Monde by the prosecutor's office in Besançon, eastern France, is part of a sprawling investigation led by French judicial authorities involving magistrates from several European Union (EU) countries.
The raids mobilized dozens of investigators from three different countries, appointed by Marc Monnier, the investigating judge in Besançon. They had to seize a large number of documents at three separate locations: Goodyear France's head office in the La Défense business district just outside Paris, where gendarmes from the Amiens research unit were dispatched; Goodyear Europe's head office in Brussels, Belgium; and finally, the Colmar-Berg plant in Luxembourg, where the manufacturer produces tires – mainly – for the European market. In Belgium and Luxemburg, local investigators were deployed as part of an international mutual legal assistance procedure.
Prepared several months ago in the utmost secrecy via Eurojust (the EU agency for judicial cooperation in criminal matters) to preserve the element of surprise, the operation could deal a severe blow to the image of the Ohio-based multinational given the seriousness of the events being investigated. Judge Monnier has opened the judicial investigation for "involuntary manslaughter." According to several sources, these raids could be a prelude to the French judge summoning Goodyear Dunlop Tires France (GDTF) to appear before the court in the coming weeks.
Lonely crusade
At the heart of this extraordinary case is Sophie Rollet. The inhabitant of Geney, a village in the Doubs region of France, whose story Le Monde first told on July 1, 2020, has been fighting for a decade to establish Goodyear's responsibility in the road accident that claimed the life of her husband, a trucker, on July 25, 2014. On that day, Jean-Paul Rollet's truck was hit by another heavy goods vehicle driven by Pascal Rochard, who was also killed in the collision. Rochard lost control of his vehicle when his left front tire, a Goodyear Marathon LHS II, burst.
Since the tragedy, Sophie Rollet has been tracking every road accident involving trucks with burst tires. The former childcare worker is convinced that the Marathon LHS IIs have a design flaw and have caused numerous accidents in France and over a dozen other European countries.
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