Ex-Cooper Worker Says Records Burned

A former Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. employee testified she burned records about tire defects after a supervisor told her a “good employee would make sure they weren’t there.”

The second-largest U.S. tire maker, facing a wrongful-death lawsuit by two boys paralyzed in a 1998 wreck that killed their parents, is accused of instructing workers to destroy the records. Lawyers for the boys, who are seeking $100 million in damages, want the court to penalize Cooper for hiding evidence.

Cathy Jean Barnett, a former quality-engineering technician, said that after supervisor Hogan Cooper made the “good employee” remark, she and a colleague spent four hours burning 10 boxes of papers, enough to fill a van. Barnett said under cross-examination she wasn’t explicitly told to destroy records.

Shares of Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper dropped 12 cents to $23.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.