Federal judge rejects Toyota's most motions on loss claims

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:40 November 22 2010]
• Comments

A federal judge on Friday rejected most of Toyota's efforts to limit who can sue the company for economic loss due to alleged sudden-acceleration problems with its cars.

Most of Toyota's motions to dismiss claims for economic loss by car owners cannot be accepted, said US District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana near Los Angeles.

In a tentative ruling, Selna accepted eight of 10 legal theories put forth by attorneys for Toyota car owners and gave them permission to amend those complaints.

"It's still a tentative ruling and we don't know what the final ruling will be yet," attorney Steven W. Berman, who leads the economic loss committee for car owners, said after the hearing. "We're really happy with the direction our case is going."

Attorneys for the car owners want owners of cars that haven't had the problem to be able to sue, while Toyota has argued that only those whose problems are related to the car's electronic throttle-control system should be able to make claims against the company.

Toyota tried to knock out many of the claims by arguing that car owners who have not experienced any problems with sudden acceleration shouldn't be allowed to be a party to the proposed class-action lawsuits.

But Berman said owners of cars that have not had problems should also be allowed to sue.

"Our argument is you don't have to wait for the bomb to go off," Berman said. "You shouldn't have to wait for a crash or death, and the court has accepted that."

Attorneys have argued in the consolidated economic-loss lawsuit that consumers "overpaid" for defective cars because Toyota knew its vehicles had sudden-acceleration problems with its electronic throttle-control system and did not recall the cars to install a brake override system that its competitors were using.

Toyota has argued that the sudden-accelerator problems were the result of sticky accelerators or floor mats, and not the throttle system.

"We're confident as we move forward we'll show there's no defect" with the electronic throttle-control system, and that will knock out most of the claims, Toyota attorney Lisa Gilford said after the hearing.

The company has recalled millions of vehicles this year and agreed in April to pay a 16.4-million-dollar fine leveled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Both sides will return to court Dec. 9, when they will consider many of the same arguments regarding the personal injury lawsuits. There are a couple hundred personal injury lawsuits the attorneys are trying to consolidate.