› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Toyota quietly agreed to pay $10 million on December 23 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Mark Saylor, the California Highway Patrol officer who was killed in a horrifying crash along with his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law, in August of last year.
Once again, Toyota is pushing the limits and surpassing other car manufacturers, but not in a good way. The company has agreed to pay an additional $32.425 million in civil penalties after two separate investigations into its handling of auto recalls found the automaker failed to comply with federal law, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Monday. The two fines are the maximum allowable by law.
A California judge presiding over multidistrict legislation on Toyota sudden acceleration claims has issued a 108-page order that allows plaintiffs with economic-loss claims to proceed with their lawsuits against the auto manufacturer.
A federal judge in Santa Ana, California dealt Toyota a major legal blow when he rejected the automaker’s petition to have all class-action lawsuits seeking damages related to sudden-unintended-acceleration (SUA) issues thrown out.
Koua Fong Lee, the Minnesota father who spent more than two and a half years in a Minnesota prison on vehicular homicide charges for a 2006 crash, is suing Toyota Motor Corp., alleging the company knew its cars could accelerate unintentionally but failed to recall them or warn drivers.
WENDOVER, UTAH — A deadly crash involving a 2008 Toyota Camry has killed two people and injured two in western Utah, reigniting fears that defects in many Toyota vehicles may trigger sudden, unintended acceleration incidents despite the company’s massive safety recalls.
LOS ANGELES–Prosecutors have dismissed charges of reckless driving and vehicular manslaughter against a Torrance, California, woman whose Lexus RX330 crashed on a Los Angeles highway, killing her passenger. Unmi Suk Chung, 62, blamed the accident on a mechanical malfunction, saying the vehicle suddenly sped out of control.
Court filings in class action litigation against Toyota regarding cases of sudden unintended acceleration allege the auto manufacturer repurchased vehicles from owners who reported the defect, and forced them to sign confidentiality agreements promising not to discuss the complaint, according to a story in the Detroit Free Press. Attorneys in the litigation also allege that Toyota ran tests on the repurchased cars, and its technicians were able to replicate the problem, which they have been adamant in the past that they could not do.
Toyota has announced another large U.S. recall of 740,000 vehicles with braking systems that have the potential to leak and gradually deteriorate, leading to a loss of brake performance. The recall is the latest in a series of safety-related recalls launched by Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the last 18 months for defects related to sudden, unintended acceleration, braking problems, loss of steering, frame rust and deterioration, electrical components, electronic stability, and other problems.
Allstate Insurance Company has filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. for $3 million in an effort to recover the claims it paid to Toyota and Lexus drivers involved in sudden acceleration incidents. Allstate alleges it paid 270 sudden acceleration-related claims since 2007.
