On September 29, I wrote about a fatal crash that occurred this past August near San Diego, California that led Toyota to recall approximately 3.8 million vehicles. According to investigators, the 2009 Lexus ES 350 being driven by a California Highway Patrol Officer as a loaner vehicle from a Lexus dealership accelerated to as fast as 100 mph before striking another vehicle, launching off …
AstraZeneca Settles Seroquel Claims For $520 Million
According to the New York Times, AstraZeneca has agreed to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits for a total of $ 520 million over the sale and marketing of its psychiatric drug Seroquel. The names of the whistle-blowers and other details regarding the investigations remain under seal in federal court. Due to aggressive marketing by AstraZeneca, Seroquel had been …
Toyota Hit With Temporary Restraining Order
In what appears to be the first case in Texas to be filed against Toyota seeking to reopen previously settled product liability cases, Judge T. John Ward, who presides over the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, signed and entered a temporary restraining order against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. and several in-house …
Toyota Recalls 3.8 Million Vehicles
Today, Toyota Motor Sales, USA announced it was recalling approximately 3.8 million vehicles to address problems with removable floor mats that could cause the accelerator to become stuck and lead to a crash. This recall is the largest recall in Toyota’s history. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government has received notice of 102 incidents involving …
Mitsubishi Recalls 2010 Endeavor For Defective Airbags
Mitsubishi has recalled 531 Endeavor model vehicles from the 2010 model year as a result of certain vehicles having potentially defective airbags. Specifically, the recall results from the retainer bracket for seat-mounted airbags on both the driver and passenger side airbags being incorrectly welded. If the faulty welding condition exists in a vehicle, the side airbags may not deploy correctly …
Debate On Liability Damage Caps As Part of Health Care Reform Rages On
For the last several months, national health care reform has been debated on television (nearly 24 hours a day), at town hall meetings, and at dinner tables across this country. Whether you favor national health care reform or not, a part of the debate includes a discussion about whether or not liability damage caps for doctors and hospitals should be …
Toyota Attorney Accuses Company Of Hiding/Destroying Evidence
Dimitrios Biller, a former in-house attorney for Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. has accused the car maker in a lawsuit filed in federal court in California of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover injury and death cases in a "ruthless conspiracy" to keep evidence of its vehicles "structural shortcomings" from becoming known. Biller alleges that his complaints to Toyota executives …
Texas Supreme Court Limits Discovery of Computer Hard Drives
On August 28, 2009, in In re Weekley Homes, L.P., a unanimous Texas Supreme Court rejected a plaintiff’s discovery request to perform a forensic examination on certain defendant’s employee’s computer servers and hard drives in an effort to discover emails the plaintiff believed had previously been deleted by the defendant’s employees. Specifically, the plaintiff in the underlying case sought to "search for …