Court Orders Toyota Not to Destroy Vehicle Safety Evidence
Posted by: Auto Buff / Category: Car News, Motoring News, ToyotaA federal judge in Texas issued a sweeping Temporary Restraining Order today to prevent the Toyota Motor Corporation, its subsidiaries, and members of its in-house legal team from destroying any documents about the crashworthiness of all vehicles manufactured by the company.
The order comes in the wake of allegations that Toyota spent years conspiring to conceal evidence from the victims of rollover accidents according to a lawsuit filed by Dimitrios Biller, the former National Managing Counsel in charge of Toyota’s National Rollover Program. Biller worked as a lawyer for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., from 2003 to 2007.
Dallas attorney Todd Tracy obtained the restraining order in connection with the filing of a 17th fraud case that seeks to reopen lawsuits in which key evidence might have been withheld. “Toyota should heed this judge’s warning from the board room to the assembly line that every single email, every document, every bit of research, and all information about vehicle safety is now put on hold. I filed the motion out of concern that Dimitrios Biller’s allegations describe that a Watergate style cover-up was underway at Toyota to undermine the American legal system.”
The litigation hold ordered by federal District Judge T. John Ward must be distributed throughout the entire company, to outside counsel, and to outside experts and contractors according to Tracy. The judge ordered Toyota not to destroy any documents pertaining to product liability cases, research, testing or documents subject to destruction under document retention policies. The judge will rule on issuing a permanent injunction in a hearing scheduled for October 7th.
The order is also directed at four top member’s of Toyota’s California based in-house legal team: Christopher Reynolds, VP and General Counsel of Toyota Motor Sales; Jane Howard Martin, Asst General Counsel in the Legal Services Group; Eric Taira, Asst General Counsel for TMS and Biller’s immediate supervisor; and Dian Ogilvie, Senior VP and General Counsel during Biller’s employment.
(Source) Press
Tags: christopher reynolds, crashworthiness, dallas attorney, dimitrios, document retention, entire company, federal district judge, jane howard, key evidence, ogilvie, product liability cases, retention policies, rollover accidents, temporary restraining order, todd tracy, toyota motor, toyota motor corporation, toyota motor sales, vehicle safety
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