Toyota Faces Court Injunction for Destroying Evidences Related to Product Liability Lawsuits

October 2, 2009

Marshall, Texas - A federal judge has ordered carmaker giant Toyota Motor Corp. to preserve all documents showing the crashworthiness of every car model. In July, the company has been accused of destroying evidences to avoid product-related lawsuits and claims.

According to a court injunction handed down by U.S. District Judge T. John Ward, Toyota should preserve all documents relating to its cars, research projects, and crashworthiness data.

The court injunction is effective until October 7. Meanwhile, the court will conduct another hearing on the same date to decide if the temporary restraining order should be extended.

Two months ago, Dimitrios Biller, Toyota’s former in-house lawyer, filed a federal lawsuit against his company for allegedly destroying documents that may serve as evidence in product-related claims.

Biller said he was forced to resign after realizing that he cannot continue doing illegal and unethical tasks for Toyota. In 2007, he received $3.7 million from the company as a settlement.

Meanwhile, lawyer Todd Tracy, who represents families of people who were killed and injured due to defective auto part and design, asked the court to reopen some of his clients’ cases which were dropped due to lack of evidence.

In response to the court decision, Toyota said it follows all the ethical and legal standards in dealing with product liability lawsuits and claims.