U.S. Judge Sets Unified Toyota Lawsuits In Motion

Jstas

Yeah, I know, more Toyota news but this is a doozy.

There's over 100 law suits in the unified suit. Add to that the fact that not all the suits against Toyota are for the unintended acceleration. There are dozens more suits not included in the unified unintended acceleration lawsuit.

Toyota's lawyers are going to earn their pay in the next couple years.

From Reuters:

U.S. judge sets newly merged Toyota suits in motion
Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES
Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:01pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The federal judge handling scores of lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp over cars that raced out of control has set the first court hearing on the combined litigation for next month.

Lawyers for Toyota will face off May 13 before U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, California, against attorneys representing over 100 lawsuits consisting of consumer fraud class actions and personal injury claims against the Japanese automaker.

Some lawyers estimate Toyota faces potential civil liability of more than $10 billion as it struggles to contain an auto-safety crisis that has tarnished its public image.

The recent addition of demands for full refunds to U.S. owners of recalled Toyota vehicles as part of consumer protection cases filed in 12 states could raise the legal stakes even higher for the car company.

Selna also designated counsel for the initial phase of the proceedings, naming three prominent trial lawyers and their firms with experience ranging from big tobacco litigation to the Enron Corp bankruptcy and claims arising from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Steve Berman of the Seattle-based firm Hagens Berman Sobel Shapiro as well as Marc Seltzer of the Los Angeles firm Susman Godfrey and Elizabeth Cabraser, a founding partner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco were named co-lead counsel by the judge.

While Selna said "these temporary designations are not a precursor of future appointments," the lawyers' selection for the first phase sets them apart from dozens of others expected to apply for permanent lead roles in the litigation.

"It definitely demonstrates the court has respect for them," said Richard Arsenault, of the Louisiana-based firm Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, who co-chaired a legal conference on the Toyota litigation last month in San Diego.

Arsenault said judges presiding over major consolidations of complex legal claims typically name five to 20 lawyers to manage the plaintiffs' case.

Contenders were given until April 30 to apply, and Selna planned to make additional appointments at the May 13 hearing.

April 30 is also the deadline for lawyers to submit a preliminary report outlining a proposed organizational structure for the legal teams, the basic facts of the case, key issues in dispute and main subject areas for discovery.

Selna also named defense attorney Cari Dawson of the Atlanta firm Alston & Byrd to head up Toyota's legal team.

The process of consolidating lawsuits is another step for the U.S. legal system in confronting a torrent of civil litigation in federal courts related to the problems with unintended acceleration in Toyota cars, trucks and SUVs.

Complaints of runaway automobiles and other safety issues have led to the recall of more than 8.5 million Toyota vehicles worldwide, most for repairs of ill-fitting floor mats and sticking gas pedals the automaker blames for surging engines.

Many of the lawsuits suggest the problem is rooted in an as-yet unidentified electronic glitch, which Toyota has vehemently denied.

Unintended acceleration alone has been linked to more than 50 crash deaths and dozens of injuries in Toyota and its luxury Lexus vehicles under investigation over the past decade.

By one count presented in court last month, at least 138 federal lawsuits had been filed against Toyota, but Arsenault said the number was now approaching 200. Many more were brought in various state courts and are not part of the consolidated federal litigation.

The bulk of federal cases are class actions on behalf of consumers seeking compensation for diminished resale value of their cars as a result of the recalls.

Such cases filed in 12 states by Berman's law firm have been updated during the past month with new claims that owners of recalled Toyota vehicles are entitled to full refunds based on breach of warranty and other misdeeds alleged against the automaker.

Berman said the refund claims "absolutely" would be included the combined consumer litigation going forward.

The case is: In re: Toyota Motor Corp Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices, and Product Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02151.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63E6OS20100416?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

hearingimpared

My God, I hope they can survive all this. They still make some of the best cars out there. I just came from my State Farm insurance agent's office for some business and she says that Toyota is still one of the best built cars and incur less damage in accidents than other car manufacturer's offerings. I'm not naming names.

BTW she was unaware or at least pretended to be unaware of the State Farm suit against Toyota.

concealer404

I just don't understand. Nobody has been able to identify the "glitch." So how can there be lawsuits about it? What happens if/when we find out that this was all a case of vegetables that shouldn't have been driving? Oh, sorry Toyota, but we already spent the money we won from you.

Jstas

hearingimpared wrote: »

My God, I hope they can survive all this. They still make some of the best cars out there. I just came from my State Farm insurance agent's office for some business and she says that Toyota is still one of the best built cars and incur less damage in accidents than other car manufacturer's offerings. I'm not naming names.

BTW she was unaware or at least pretended to be unaware of the State Farm suit against Toyota.

I read another story about it on Autoblog, might be in the one I posted too. I didn't read all of it. But the suits amount to about $10B US in civil penalties. I don't think Toyota is worth that much anymore.

hearingimpared

Jstas wrote: »

I read another story about it on Autoblog, might be in the one I posted too. I didn't read all of it. But the suits amount to about $10B US in civil penalties. I don't think Toyota is worth that much anymore.

That's just outrageous and obscene!:mad:

sucks2beme

So what happens when nobody wants to sell cars here due to the possibilty
of being sued out of business?

Jstas

sucks2beme wrote: »

So what happens when nobody wants to sell cars here due to the possibilty
of being sued out of business?

That's jumping to a pretty extreme conclusion, isn't it? Or wait, you know? Don't even answer that because I know what your answer will be.

This whole recall isn't any different from any other manufacturer except for one thing. Toyota has been caught trying to cover it up. Every other company that has had something this catastrophic go down has cooperated and taken their lumps. Ford, Audi, VW, GM, Mercedes, they all did what they had to do to make it right. Mitsubishi and Nissan both covered up incidents in the past and it has made them an also-ran in the U.S. market. Toyota has been lying and covering up for almost a decade. That's what the investigations are about. Now that Toyota has been fined with the maximum penalty the NHTSA is allowed to dole out, the wrongful death suits and such are going to come out. Toyota was found at fault and now they are going to have to pay a price.

Will it destroy them? I doubt it. They have numerous assets to leverage and honestly, the Japanese government won't let them fail either. Toyota will survive but they are going to be pretty beat up when it's all over. Since there is enough evidence to show that they covered stuff up, they deserve everything they have coming to them.

The only thing I find amazing in all of this is that the Toyota customers are the ones that were lied to the most and the ones most affected yet they aren't angry at Toyota. They are angry at the government for exposing a problem and taking action to make Toyota fix it. Baffles my mind.

nooshinjohn

Working for an organization tha owns a Toyota dealer, I can tell you that sales of the brand here are WAY UP over last year. I doubt there will be any lingering effect for the brand, and if they sign up for union representation for their workers, the press/politicians will do an about face and sing the praises of Toyota from the rooftops.

sucks2beme

I'm sure there are many that didn't think most of GM would go up in smoke
until it happened. No, I really don't think Toyota will go under, but there are
a lot of smaller players that will think about that risk. And a lot of small
Eco-market start ups that need to worry. That affects their ability to raise
money and roll out those new products.
Toyota customers and Mac users are a loyal breed.
It's just that way, so it's a pointless issue to discus. It's kinda like
being a Texas Rangers fan.

concealer404

Jstas wrote: »

The only thing I find amazing in all of this is that the Toyota customers are the ones that were lied to the most and the ones most affected yet they aren't angry at Toyota. They are angry at the government for exposing a problem and taking action to make Toyota fix it. Baffles my mind.

Not to nitpick, but i wasn't aware that a specific issue had yet been identified. I've asked a couple times, but everyone seems to sidestep me: Has someone actually pinpointed or been able to re-create the problem yet? I haven't heard anything and i would have assumed that it would have been breaking news.

At this point, and Consumer Reports is cementing this for me, this is all a case of your average American being so stupid they don't know the right pedal from the left pedal. My opinion of course.

Hillbilly61

While no fanboy of Toyota or Honda, I was traveling this week and was appalled to see some local ambulance chasing law firm trolling for Toyota lawsuits on the local TV.

Consumer Reports not recommending the Lexus SUV was bigger news to me. Toyota did the responsible thing by immediately pulling the vehicle from the USA market. CR have only done this once before, as far as I know, and for the same reason.