The litigation against Toyota over its sudden-acceleration problem took another step forward Friday, with more than 150 federal suits being consolidated before one federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-lawsuits10-2010apr10,0,6050180.story
So even as federal safety officials are investigating and fining Toyota over the acceleration issue and the auto maker’s handling of the matter, the lawsuits against Toyota will proceed before federal Judge James Selna.
Selna’s Santa Anna, Calif., courtroom will become the center for determining personal damages in the pending suits. Santa Anna is only about 30 miles from Toyota’s U.S. headquarters.
On Friday the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to give allow 100 suits that are seeking class action status, along with 50 personal injury cases, to be litigated before one judge, Selna, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“Centralization will create convenience for the parties and witnesses and will promote the more just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the chairman of the federal panel, Judge John Heyburn II, wrote in an order Friday.
But this only applies to federal lawsuits pending against Toyota, which has recalled more than 8 million vehicles due to the sudden acceleration problem. Numerous suits have also been filed in state courts across the nation.
Last month dozens of attorneys presented arguments about whether the many lawsuits should be consolidated or handled individually.
Judge Selna’s resume includes presiding over complex corporate, and he’ll his hands full in the dozens of Toyota lawsuits, according to The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304222504575174180229421268.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews
For example, he adjudicated a patent infringement case between Quaalcom and Broadcom, finding that Quaalcom had violated a court order by marketing computer chips that used Broadcom patented technology – without paying the royalties due.
Judge Selna plans to pick a committee of plaintiffs’ attorneys to be lead counsel on the consolidated cases, with more than 100 lawyers jockeying for those spots, The Journal reported.
