The outcome of more than 300 auto products liability lawsuits are now being
questioned, following allegations by a former senior counsel for Toyota
Motor Sales Corp. that the company made him withhold key evidence from
plaintiffs who had sought recovery for personal injury or wrongful death.
Dimitrios P. Biller has filed a federal racketeering lawsuit alleging
that because he complained to the company about its alleged misconduct
he was forced to resign.
While working for Toyota between 2003 and 2007, Biller defended Toyota
against plaintiffs whose rollover lawsuits pinpointed that the vehicles’
weak and unstable roofs as a cause of the injuries and deaths. His complaint
also accuses Toyota of failing to turn over electronically stored data
to the auto products liability lawyers of the plaintiffs.
Biller claims that the company withheld test information by allowing an
engineering subsidiary to destroy key documents in hundreds of rollover
accident cases where roof crush issues were a factor. He says that even
today there are Toyota motor vehicles that fail to meet the automaker’s
safety goals.
Our auto products liability lawyers at The Gilbert Law Group, P.C. have
settled dozens of Toyota rollover accident cases. Biller’s allegations
if they are true, are indeed very serious.
Already, a class action lawsuit has been filed accusing Toyota of illegally
concealing evidence in rollover accident cases on behalf of plaintiffs
who either settled or lost their auto products liability cases because
certain data wasn’t made available to them. Other auto products
liability law firms are now saying that they may have to consider whether
their Toyota rollover lawsuits that have been resolved need to be reopened.
Toyota is calling Biller’s accusations “inaccurate and misleading.”
The company is attempting have his complaint sealed because of “privileged
and confidential” data that Biller should not be revealing. Biller’s
lawsuit names Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Motor Corp. of Japan, and five
ex- and current lawyers and executives employed by Toyota Motor Sales
as the defendants.
Victims and family members wishing to seek recovery for personal injury
and wrongful death continue to file Toyota rollover lawsuits .
Rollover lawsuits could haunt Toyota, USA Today, September 2, 2009
Lawsuit: Toyota Buried Accident Evidence, CBS News, August 31, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Read the Lawsuit (PDF)
Toyota 4Runner SUV Rollover Lawsuit Filed Over Fatal Crash, About Lawsuits, August 10, 2009
Please contact our rollover accident lawyers if you were injured in an accident involving a Toyota SUV, truck, or another vehicle.