Tracy's histrionic charges, some irrelevant, are right out of a script for a Hollywood movie.
Toyota Motor Corporation’s legal problems are unlikely fixed any time soon as plaintiff’s lawyers have taken dead aim at the automaker.
Dallas attorney Todd Tracy, an expert in suing carmakers, has jumped into the Toyota fray by filing a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas, charging Toyota with misconduct and engaging in pattern of “discovery abuse.”
His histrionic charges, some irrelevant, are right out of a script for a Hollywood movie.
“The American legal system and vehicle owners need to rise up to ‘get Toyota to tell the truth’ about its hidden crash safety data,” said Tracy, who specializes in lawsuits about vehicle accidents and alleged safety defects, and takes a large percentage of the proceeds for himself instead returning more of it to the victims.
“Toyota was the top benefactor of the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ stimulus rebate program. Their cover-up of serious safety problems makes a ‘chump’ out of the American taxpayer,” Tracy said in press release about his complaint.
Tracy claimed the revelations by a former Toyota lawyer, Dimitrios Biller of Los Angeles, that alleged the automaker had hid or destroyed crash safety data it should have disclosed in as many as 300 civil lawsuits prompted him to file suit seeking to reopen 15 cases in which key evidence might have been withheld.
Last month, Biller himself filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles that kicked off the controversy that has already proven deeply embarrassing to Toyota.
The suit in Texas was brought by individuals killed or seriously injured in crashes involving Toyota vehicles accuses the world’s largest automaker of fraud and racketeering in withholding materials from the judicial system, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American public, Tracy said.
Tracy is also calling Congress to launch an investigation into Toyota’s conduct. “This pattern of lying to the courts and federal auto safety regulators has taken a tragic toll on the principles of the American legal system and on countless unsuspecting victims,” added Tracy. I believe hundreds of auto accident cases will be reopened across the country so that victims can be fairly compensated for their injuries. Toyota needs to come clean to every owner of one of its vehicles,” he said.
Toyota has denounced the charges emerging in the lawsuits as baseless.
“Contrary to Mr. Biller’s claims, Toyota vehicles are all carefully and rigorously tested, and are all engineered to meet or exceed the high standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is the global leader in motor vehicle safety. Among the many inaccuracies in his lawsuit, Mr. Biller has grossly mischaracterized Toyota’s reporting to NHTSA. His accusations that Toyota misled NHTSA regarding roof crush strength standards are completely false. Contrary to his claims, there has never been any question about the completeness and accuracy of the information we have provided to product safety regulators,” Toyota said in a statement.
“Toyota is committed to the highest standards of product quality and safety, and we fully stand behind the structural integrity of all our vehicles and their adherences to federal safety regulations.We maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in our legal practices as well.
“The facts of the NHTSA situation cited by Mr. Biller are as follows. In August of 2005, NHTSA announced proposed changes to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 216 and requested voluntary comments from interested parties. Toyota provided one comment to the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers (AAM), which hired outside consultants to prepare its response on behalf of its members, which include 11 carmakers including GM, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota was not required to provide input and did not respond directly to NHTSA. Furthermore, NHTSA performs its own independent vehicle tests as it ultimately decides on new safety rules.
“Mr. Biller also exaggerates the incidence of roll-over litigation involving Toyota vehicles. In fact, Toyota vehicles have an excellent safety record relative to the millions of cars on the road. While a rollover accident can be severe, with 27 million Toyota vehicles currently in operation, rollovers are a rare event,” Toyota said.
Toyota also has taken publicly attacked Biller’s motives in suing and helping publicize the original complaint.
“Biller’s actions and the timing of his lawsuit do not support his claim that he is motivated by the public interest. Rather, his actions are driven to advance his own personal financial interests and a desire to damage Toyota and his former colleagues. Biller did not resign from Toyota because of ethics concerns. In making his demand for a severance package, he held open his option to return to work at Toyota as an attorney. He was fully responsible for managing the cases cited in his lawsuit but he did not take any action at the time that would be consistent with his concerns,” Toyota representatives noted.
“Biller has a history of suing his former employers, as well as attorneys who represented him, accusing them of conspiracy against him. Biller was terminated from his position with the Los Angeles District Attorney (LADA) and subsequently sued the LADA for $50 million on the grounds that his colleagues were conspiring to have him fired. He has also sued the attorney who represented him against Toyota (Los Angeles Superior Court, Santa Monica Division, Biller vs. Faber). In court papers related to these suits, Mr. Biller claims he is disabled and has suffered from organic brain disease ‘for most of his life’.”
“In November 2008 Toyota filed a lawsuit against Biller to stop his use of Toyota case studies and other confidential or proprietary information in seminars and on the website of his legal education business, in clear violation of confidentiality agreements and attorney-client privilege. This suit and its related restraining order have nothing to do with his false claims regarding the conduct of product liability cases and Biller cannot claim that Toyota ever sued him to stop the disclosures he is making now,” Toyota said.