Northern Electric seeks summary judgment in Michelin suit

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2015) — Northern Electric Inc. is seeking summary judgment before the Western Kentucky federal district court, claiming Michelin North America Inc. has not proved its case in seeking more than $3 million in damages from Northern Electric.

The case stems from a Jan. 21, 2013 incident at Michelin's American Synthetic Rubber Co. subsidiary plant in Jefferson County, Ky., according to the petition Northern Electric filed Nov. 5, 2015.

Northern Electric was performing electrical work at the Jefferson County plant in connection with the tire maker adding a production line there, according to the document. To undertake necessary work, Northern Electric turned off 15 circuit breakers at the plant.

Michelin alleged this action caused a manufacturing line to be shut down for approximately a half-hour, and hampered production for the next 18 days, the petition said.

Michelin seeks between $2.57 million and $2.8 million for a two-week loss of use, as well as $673,289 for lost or off-spec product, $56,935 for equipment cleanup and repair, and $26,985 for costs to rerun usable off-spec material, the document said.

According to Northern Electric, Michelin produced only one document to back its damage claims, and then only after the magistrate judge in the case ordered the Greenville, S.C.-based tire maker to honor Northern Electric's repeated discovery requests, according to the petition.

In that document, Michelin admitted it did not suffer a drop in production or sale of the products manufactured with the synthetic rubber produced in Jefferson County.

“Michelin has failed to present any evidence supporting its claim of damages for the loss of use,” the Northern Electric petition said.

“In addition to the fact Michelin did not make any purchases of rubber, it also utilized false figures for its own production costs in its claimed damages,” it said.

A Michelin spokesman declined comment on the grounds that the tire maker never comments on ongoing litigation.