Dangerous Imports and Drugs

Toyota is already being sued over accidents caused by the sudden-acceleration of its cars, with some of those lawsuits seeking class action status. But there is one suit that the automaker will likely have a particularly tough time defending itself against, according to The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703862704575099861335382140.html?mod=WSJ-auto-IndustryCollection#articleTabs_article

That product liability and negligence suit stems from the case of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer who was killed in an accident, along with his family, in San Diego when the Lexus he was driving suddenly sped out of control, accelerating to 120 miles an hour.

But this accident is different than the others in several important ways. First, the Lexus being driven by the off-duty officer, Mark Saylor, was a loaner car from a dealership. Secondly, the customer who had used the loaner car before Sawyer had told the dealership that its accelerator had gotten stuck.

According to The Journal, Saylor’s fatal crash was a particularly disturbing one. After accelerating, the Lexus hit a Ford Explorer, crashed through a fence, flipped over and then exploded in flames. Sawyer and his three passengers were killed.

The Journal points out that in some of the other litigation pending against Toyota over the acceleration issue, there are mitigating factors that could get the car maker off the hook. One driver had epilepsy, and Toyota argued a seizure could have caused his crash. Another driver was old and had parked near a cliff. A third had a stroke.

Saylor’s survivors filed their lawsuit this month in Superior Court in San Diego.

So far federal officials say that there have been 52 deaths linked to the acceleration of their Toyotas. Some experts suggested that each suit filed from the case could result in Toyota having to pay millions of dollars in damages.

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million cars so far.

 

Attorney Gordon Johnson Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice

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©Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. 2010

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Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney