The widow of an Inverness man who was killed in a 2001 accident when his tire blew out and caused his Ford minivan to flip on Interstate 75 has settled with the tire manufacturer, despite the company's insistence that it was not liable in the crash.
         Reaching a settlement would keep legal ordeals out of the courtroom and be less expensive and less painful for the parties involved, said Bridgestone/Firestone spokesman Dan MacDonald, whose company manufactured the Dayton Tire, which was on Howard Stone's 1992 Aerostar van duringthe crash.
         In the July 2, 2001, accident, Stone, 66, was driving north on I-75 when the right rear tire came apart on the Aerostar, causing the vehicle to veer into the median and flip about a half mile south of the State Road 52 overpass in Pasco County. Stone and his two sons were ejected from the vehicle, investigators at the time said.