Results tagged “Lawsuit” from Biz Waves

This case, which seemed so explosive just a few months ago, pales in comparison to Toyota's problems with the floor mats and gas pedals.

Toyota Former Inhouse Lawyer Must Arbitrate Claims

(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. won a ruling forcing a former inhouse lawyer to arbitrate racketeering and other claims he brought in a lawsuit accusing the carmaker of hiding information in litigation over rollover crashes.

U.S. District Judge George H. King in Los Angeles, in an order today, granted Toyota's request to compel Dimitrios Biller to arbitrate the dispute as was stipulated in his September 2007 severance agreement. Biller's claims against Toyota will be put on hold pending the completion of arbitration, the judge said.

Read more on Toyota's legal battle.

Regardless of the potential legal vulnerabilities, the marketing idea is pretty creative.

Woman Sues Toyota For Convincing Her She Was Being Stalked

(CONSUMERIST.COM) It's probably a bad idea to market to consumers by tricking them with practical jokes. It's definitely a bad idea to make a consumer fear for her safety over a five day period because she thinks a stalker is coming after her. That's why a woman in Los Angeles is suing Toyota for $10 million after being on the receiving end of a Punk'd-style stunt to promote the Toyota Matrix.

Read more on Toyota's prank marketing issue.

What a headache for Toyota. Lawsuits settled years and years ago could be revisited. It's been a tough time for the automaker. On Tuesday, Toyota said it planned to recall 3.8 million vehicles because of the possible risk of a jammed gas pedal.

Toyota Ordered Not to Destroy Car-Crash Documents

(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., its units, lawyers and any other employees were ordered by a U.S. judge to preserve all documents about the "crashworthiness" of its vehicles after the carmaker was accused of destroying lawsuit evidence.

"The court finds an immediate threat of irreparable harm in that, under the allegations, a threat exists that evidence material to this case would be destroyed or altered," U.S. District Judge T. John Ward in Marshall, Texas, wrote yesterday.

Ward's order stems from a federal lawsuit filed in July in Los Angeles by a former in-house attorney for Toyota. Dimitrios Biller claims Toyota destroyed documents that should have been retained as possible evidence in personal injury claims. A Texas lawyer representing families of crash victims who'd resolved their product liability claims with the company sued Toyota after Biller made his claims.

Read more on the lawsuit against Toyota.

This lawsuit will serve as a long, drawn out embarrassing episode for Toyota. The carmaker will want to settle this issue as quickly as possible.

Ex-Toyota Lawyer Amends Suit to Include Defamation Charge

(LAW.COM) It can be tricky when a company gets sued by a former insider. The company wants to respond, especially when it depends on selling products to consumers. But what it says can then provide the plaintiff with additional fodder.

Consider the amended complaint filed against Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., (TMS) on Sept. 17 by former in-house lawyer Dimitrios Biller. Citing Toyota's September 10 press release about his lawsuit, Biller added a new claim: defamation.

Read more on the Toyota lawsuit.

In a followup to allegations that Toyota withheld relevant documents in liability cases against it, here's a good New York Times piece on a court fining the automaker for withholding documents.

Court Fined Toyota for Nondisclosure in 2005

(NYT) Toyota has denied the claims of Dimitrios Biller, a former company lawyer, that it often withheld documents in product-liability suits filed against it, insisting "it works to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards." But in 2005, a California court found the company guilty of failing to turn over documents in a liability case.

Read more on Toyota.