› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
The family of a Marine who served two tours of combat duty in Iraq only to be killed in Knoxville, Tennessee, when his Toyota Yaris suddenly sped out of control, is suing the carmaker. The new lawsuit is one of the latest cases to join the multi-district litigation involving sudden, unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus cars, which have been consolidated in a Santa Ana, California, federal court under Judge James Selna.
U.S. District Judge James Selna, who is presiding over multi-district litigation involving sudden-acceleration claims against Toyota, has set three trials to go forward in 2013, including the Utah lawsuit that he previously dismissed over a technicality.
The federal judge overseeing lawsuits filed in federal courts against Toyota for sudden unintended acceleration damages has dismissed the lawsuit previously selected as the first bellwether case, saying it belonged in a Utah State court.
The federal judge presiding over multi-district litigation (MDL) involving sudden-acceleration claims against Toyota said Monday he may reject the auto maker’s motion seeking to toss the first of hundreds of lawsuits.
The study NASA conducted to determine if an electronic flaw could be responsible for sudden unintended acceleration incidents in Toyota vehicles was the product of a collusion between trusted government agencies and powerful special interests, Safety Research & Strategies Inc. (SRS) reports on its website, and it has the facts to back up such a bold claim.
Toyota’s record-setting recalls of millions of vehicles for sudden unintended acceleration defects dealt the company that prides itself on quality and safety a huge blow. But it was the way the company handled the recalls that troubled regulators, prompted the largest fines in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s history, and tarnished the carmaker’s reputation even more by calling its honesty and integrity into question. Now, as Toyota faces hundreds of personal-injury, wrongful death, and economic-loss lawsuits, it leaves other auto manufacturers a few great lessons on how not to conduct business.
When Mark Saylor called 911 from behind the wheel of a Lexus ES350 in 2009, he frantically yelled that nothing he did would stop or even slow the vehicle from speeding out of control on the California freeway. Mr. Saylor and his family died during that phone call, but had Mr. Saylor known more about the vehicle’s keyless push-button ignition system, would the fiery crash have been averted?
Toyota has motioned for a second time that all economic-loss claims filed against it in the shadow of its sudden unintended acceleration problems be thrown out, but the judge overseeing the litigation has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying they have sufficient grounds to move forward.
An emergency-room physician from Long Island, New York, told a jury Monday that Toyota failed to warn him that his 2005 Scion could unexpectedly speed out of control. The plaintiff was injured in October 2005 when he attempted to park his Toyota vehicle in the driveway of his Port Washington, New York, home. But instead of coming to a stop, the Scion suddenly accelerated. The plaintiff could not stop the car and it sped out of control until he hit a tree.
Lawyers representing hundreds of plaintiffs suing Toyota over sudden acceleration incidents are challenging a NASA report that concluded electronic defects aren’t responsible for causing Toyota and Lexus vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly. Toyota has argued the defects that triggered a global recall of millions of vehicles over sudden-acceleration issues are caused by mechanical problems and driver error, not electronic flaws.
