"It's very seldom in a product liability case that you can find such a credible employee," Brogdon said. "He's just a good man who did what he thought was right once he learned somebody had been harmed by these tires."
Hogan, an ex-biker who grows bonsai trees, was hired as a tire builder in Wilson in 1994. He testified that he witnessed the crafting of countless bad tires built with dried-out rubber and with wood bits, cigarette butts, screws and more mixed in.
One look at a picture of the Van Etten tire and Hogan knew how the tread had peeled away from the steel ply like skin from a banana.
Dateline NBC, The Washington Post and others interviewed Hogan, as did product liability attorneys in Texas and Florida. His testimony helped prompt last year's recall. It also showed that defective tires were built in North Carolina, not solely in Illinois, as Bridgestone/Firestone contended.
Hogan, who had quit the company and opened an auto body shop, was pilloried in Wilson. Company attorneys scrutinized his work and family's lives. The anonymous fax, which was traced to the plant's accounts-payable office, told workers not to do business with anyone who patronized Hogan's shop.
Hogan persevered. Today, business booms. And he counts many friends at Bridgestone/Firestone.
"In the beginning, I did all this for [the Van Ettens]," said Hogan.
"As it blew up, it turns out I just inadvertently helped a lot of other people. That's kind of humbling."
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