A contingent of small firms with expertise in class actions and products liability litigation are behind a legal onslaught against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. following reports of sudden acceleration in many of its most popular vehicle models.
As of Friday, Toyota had attracted more than a dozen class actions filed on behalf of consumers who allege that Toyota's failure to adequately disclose problems with its accelerator pedals amounted to fraud. At least three other suits were filed on behalf of people injured, or whose family members were killed, when their Toyota accelerated without warning. Additional firms planned shareholder suits against Toyota, whose stock value has dropped beneath the weight of the negative publicity.
"This is not a human carnage, this is economic disassembling," said Tim Howard, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who as a plaintiffs attorney specializes in consumer and products liability litigation. "But Toyota will experience some pain from this process. And it's our job to inflict it."
Despite the rising litigation, the consumer claims face a number of obstacles, according to some law professors and defense attorneys. Consumers will have to prove actual economic damages and assert individual claims that are consistent enough to merit class certification by federal courts -- both feats that were difficult for plaintiffs' firms in earlier consumer class actions alleging economic harm due to a defective product.
"These kinds of lawsuits will have a rough time in court," said James A. Henderson Jr., a professor at Cornell Law School who specializes in torts and products liability. "Courts will dismiss them. And in the long run, not very much will come of it."
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