leroy, donna, barry and suzanne haeger sued the goodyear tire & rubber company to recover monetary damages for injuries they suffered after the family's motorhome swerved off the road and flipped over. the plaintiffs alleged that a goodyear G159 tire on the vehicle caused the accident because the tire was not designed to withstand the level of heat generated when the tire was used on motorhome at highway speed. Discovery in the case lasted several years. the plaintiffs repeatedly demand that goodyear turn over internal test results fir the G159, but the company's responses were both slow and unrevealing in content. the parties finally settled the case for an undisclosed sum of money.

later, the plaintiffs lawyer learned that goodyear had disclosed a set of test results in another case that had not been disclosed to the plaintiffs that showed that the G159 tire got unusually hot at speeds between 55 and 65 miles per hour. the plaintiffs sued goodyear to recover their entire lawyer's fees of $2.7 million they expended on their case. the us district court awarded the plaintifs this amount of damages, and the us court of appeals affirmed the judgment. goodyear appealed to the us supreme court, alleging that the award of lawyer's fees should not be the entire amount expended by the plaintiffs, but should not be the entire amount expended by the plaintiffs, but should be limited to an amount determined to be related to goodyear's misconduct.

Did Goodyear act ethically in this case? Do you think the amount of damages that will be awarded will prevent similar conduct in the future?