A class action has been filed against The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) and certain of its officers and directors by stockholders who purchased the company's common stock between March 26, 1999, and October 22, 2003. The action claims that the defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market over this time period, thereby artificially inflating the price of the company's securities. The stockholders seek to recover compensatory damages for the loss of value of their stock.

Throughout the class period, Goodyear filed financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission that purported to accurately reflect the company's operating results and financial condition. Allegedly, the financial information contained in the company's SEC filings was artificially inflated through accounting improprieties. Specifically, as Goodyear admitted in a press release issued after the close of trading on October 22, 2003, the company overstated its net income and shareholders' equity by a total of approximately $100 million and $120 million, respectively. As a result, the company announced it would restate its results for the years 1998-2002 and for the first and second quarters of 2003. Goodyear attributed the overstatements to "the implementation of an enterprise resource planning accounting system (ERP) in 1999 and errors in inter-company billing systems." In reaction to this announcement, the price of Goodyear common stock dropped by 9% by midday trading on October 23, on unusually heavy trading volume.