April 8, 2010
LaHood says Toyota documents could yield more violations.
On the heels of yesterdays' news of DOT's seeking of a record $16.4 million fine against Toyota for its handling of its unintended recall crisis, Bloomberg News (4/7, McCormick, Keane) reports that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced yesterday that his agency's investigations "may discover additional violations that could lead to further penalties. ... Documents from Toyota that showed the carmaker knew about sticky accelerator pedals four months before notifying US officials is 'clearly an indication that they have violated the law,' LaHood said. ... 'This is the first thing that we have found. It may not be the last thing.'"
The AP (4/7, Bellandi, Thomas) adds that LaHood said "he wouldn't be surprised if a review of documents from Toyota Motor uncovered additional safety lapses at the Japanese automaker."
Documents show Toyota was repairing accelerators months before recall. The AP (4/7) reports that its analysis of internal Toyota documents indicates that the automaker "issued internal repair procedures to its own distributors in 31 European countries about sticking accelerator pedals months before it warned US regulators about the problem -- and on the same day it told the US government it would conduct a recall over loose floor mats." The piece notes that LaHood cited the European warnings in deciding to seek the fine against Toyota. "LaHood on Tuesday said Toyota made a "huge mistake" by not disclosing safety problems with gas pedals on some of its most popular models sooner."
Fines could boost Toyota's liability. Bloomberg News (4/7, Fisk, Ohnsman, Keane) reports that LaHood's assertion that "the company 'knowingly hid a dangerous defect'" could increase Toyota's difficulty in "defending itself in US lawsuits over flaws in its vehicles." NHTSA's proposed fine and finding that Toyota hid evidence are "useful for lawsuit plaintiffs even if it won't be admitted as evidence in trials, said Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law. 'It's something that plaintiffs' lawyers can capitalize on in settlement negotiations or in asking judges for broader discovery,' Tobias said." However, "the assessment by LaHood and NHTSA won't be admitted directly as evidence," according to Houston trial lawyer W. Mark Lanier.
The National Law Journal (4/7, Bronstad) reports that the NHTSA's "$16.4 million civil penalty against Toyota could bolster legal claims that the automaker committed consumer fraud and racketeering. It also could assist plaintiffs' attorneys in obtaining thousands of documents for use in their cases, according to plaintiffs' lawyers and legal experts." Tim Howard, "a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, who is leading a consortium of more than two dozen plaintiffs' lawyers with suits against Toyota," said, "Factually, it validates the legitimacy of our allegations that Toyota has been misleading the federal government and consumers, as far as the severity of the problems with their sticky pedals and their whole electronic throttle control system."
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