Recent settlements of lawsuits involving vehicle value loss and a few involving wrongful death claims may signal that Toyota doesn't want to risk potentially costly court decision.
by Greg Risling of www.usatoday.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As Toyota Motor chips away at settling lawsuits
claiming its vehicles suddenly accelerate, the question remains whether
attorneys who sued could prove to a jury there was a design flaw.
The company maintains that stuck accelerator pedals, faulty floor
mats and driver error are the reasons for vehicles unexpectedly surging,
while plaintiffs' attorneys contend Toyota's electronic throttle
control system is to blame.
Recent settlements totaling more
than $1 billion to resolve numerous lawsuits involving economic loss
and a few involving wrongful death claims could signal that Toyota
doesn't want to risk coming out on the losing end of a potentially
costly court decision.
"A bad loss in a jury trial would
inflict lasting damage to Toyota in loss of public confidence," said Los
Angeles-based attorney Christine Spagnoli, who has won several
multimillion-dollar verdicts against automakers over safety defects. "I
believe Toyota will continue to look for better opportunities to get a
win."
The company said Thursday that it settled a lawsuit
with the family of two people killed in a Utah crash that was set to go
to trial next month and serve as a test case for hundreds of others that
are pending.
Terms of the agreement weren't released, but
it comes weeks after Toyota agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle
lawsuits in which vehicle owners said the value of their cars and SUVs
plummeted after the company recalled millions of vehicles because of
sudden-acceleration issues.
In the Utah case, Paul Van Alfen
and his son's fiancée, Charlene Jones Lloyd, were killed when their
Camry slammed into a wall near Wendover, Utah, in 2010. The Utah Highway
Patrol concluded, based on statements from witnesses and crash
survivors, that the gas pedal was stuck.
It was the first
bellwethercase, before a federal judge in Orange County, Calif., chosen
to help predict the potential outcome of other lawsuits making similar
allegations.
Wayne Mason, a product liability attorney in
Dallas, doesn't believe Thursday's settlement portends poorly for either
side going forward.
"This is like taking an aspirin when
you have a migraine," Mason said. "Each of these cases has to be weighed
on their own merit. I will be surprised if some don't get tried."
Toyota continues to be dogged by sudden-acceleration issues that
arose four years ago. Last month, the U.S. government hit the company
with a record $17.4 million fine for failing again to quickly report
problems to federal regulators and for delaying a safety recall. More
than 150,000 2010 Lexus Rx 350s and RX 450h models were recalled because
the driver's-side floor mats can trap the gas pedal and cause the
vehicles to speed up without warning.
Toyota has recalled
more than 14 million vehicles globally to fix sticky gas pedals and
floor mats. The company also paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for
three violations in 2010.
While the recalls have soiled the
company's sterling reputation for reliability, Toyota has regained its
position as the world's largest automaker and saw sales increase 27%
last year.
The automaker also has received some vindication.
Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA were
unable to find any defects in Toyota's source code that could cause
acceleration problems.
In 2011, a federal judge found that
Toyota wasn't liable for a 2005 crash involving a Scion that the driver
blamed on the electronic throttle or a floor mat.
A second
bellwether trial is scheduled for later this year, but it's unclear if a
resolution will be made before then. Plaintiffs' attorneys have
reviewed thousands of internal Toyota documents, reviewed data and
deposed employees, but most of that material has been kept under seal in
court records.
In a statement announcing the Van Alfen
settlement, Toyota said there will be a number of other chances to
defend itself in a court of law, although the company may "decide from
time to time" to settle select cases.
"It would seem that
Toyota did not want a public airing of the evidence that has been
gathered in the lawsuits, so that it can continue to say that there is
not a problem," Spagnoli said. "If Toyota felt it could have
successfully defended its products in these cases, it would have
welcomed a public trial."
Source;
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/driveon/2013/01/21/toyota-sudden-acceleration-lawsuits/1851813/
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