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US Judge Orders Toyota To Not Destroy Or Alter Car Crash Documents

Agent009 submitted on 10/1/2009 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 4:33:21 PM

13 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: www.bloomberg.com

Toyota Motor Corp.

, its units, lawyers and any other employees were ordered by a U.S. judge to preserve all documents about the “crashworthiness” of its vehicles after the carmaker was accused of destroying lawsuit evidence.

“The court finds an immediate threat of irreparable harm in that, under the allegations, a threat exists that evidence material to this case would be destroyed or altered,” U.S. District Judge T. John Ward in Marshall, Texas, wrote yesterday.

Ward’s order stems from a federal lawsuit filed in July in Los Angeles by a former in-house attorney for Toyota. Dimitrios Biller claims Toyota destroyed documents that should have been retained as possible evidence in personal injury claims. A Texas lawyer representing families of crash victims who’d resolved their product liability claims with the company sued Toyota after Biller made his claims.



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US Judge Orders Toyota To Not Destroy Or Alter Car Crash Documents

About the Author

Agent009

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

— Agent009 (View Profile)


User Comments

1UAW

LOL!!!

— 1UAW (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 5:11:51 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

TurboSpyder

Updated link to the Bloomberg story:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIL3Y5B5zguY

— TurboSpyder (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 6:58:17 PM | | Votes: 1   

theoptimisticpessimist

Why do the need to "destroy or alter". Welcome to Toyota week of PR nightmares.

— theoptimisticpessimist (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 5:20:09 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 8   

Joe_Limon

Not only that, but why do they need to be ordered not to destroy them?

— Joe_Limon (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 5:46:01 PM | | Votes: 6   

Lemonade

WOW 009, you really are something special. The internet traffic on this thread alone should be phenominal by the end of the day.

— Lemonade (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 6:11:04 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

XYZZ



for all you Assinine ASSuming Jerky Jump to Conclusions critics: "...a former in-house attorney for Toyota. Dimitrios Biller CLAIMS Toyota destroyed documents..." [emphasis added]

it's not unheard of for former employees to have grudges and make wild claims.

— XYZZ (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 10:07:33 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

HyundaiSmoke

GMOYOTA, I HATE WHAT YOU DO TO MEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

— HyundaiSmoke (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 10:28:39 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

huu76

Once again, only half the story is needed if Toyota is involved.

This ex-employee must be filing this lawsuit (which is odd to begin with) out of the goodness of his heart and empathy for potential crash victims right?

Not quite, sounds like Mr. ex-employee wants a big payday for "emotional stress".
"Biller says he suffered a "complete emotional breakdown" after being compelled to resign from Toyota and suffers from major and chronic depression, requiring heavy medication".
I'm sure Toyota wouldn't allow him to quit because they handcuffed him to his desk.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2009/09/68498180/1

Hey everybody, Toyota still has money. Dust off those lawsuits!!!

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 11:37:07 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

huu76

Anybody else notice taht the company trying to get a big payday from Toyota over its "hybrid synergy drive" hasn't attempted to get Nissan and Ford (who's system is based off of Toyota's) to pay up too?

Yup, Toyota has the money, and money attracts "give me something for nothing" type people.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 11:39:15 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

Joe_Limon

Why are you avoiding the point of this article?

— Joe_Limon (View Profile)

Posted on 10/1/2009 11:45:40 PM | | Votes: 4   

agent507

In short: The higher you raise, the deeper you will fall.

Recalls, bad PR, and declining sales numbers, I think the new number one is struggeling a bit at the moment.

— agent507 (View Profile)

Posted on 10/2/2009 3:29:53 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

1UAW

The key to the industry is to stay number two and just be profitable.

— 1UAW (View Profile)

Posted on 10/2/2009 5:39:39 AM | | Votes: 2   

huu76

The point is in America, if you want money, you sue the people who have it.

Just because he dropped off a few boxes of documents doesn't mean Toyota doesn't still have the same documents. In this day and age, there's no getting rid of information. There's always an electronic trace somewhere, you just need to know where to look.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 10/3/2009 12:41:57 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

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