Toyota Acceleration Cases Won't Be Tossed, Judge Says in Tentative Ruling

A federal judge tentatively ruled that he will reject most of Toyota Motor Corp.’s first major legal challenge to class-action lawsuits filed against the automaker by car owners over sudden acceleration, Bloomberg reported.

The car owners’ lawyers provided sufficient evidence to allow their cases to go forward, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana, California, said in a tentative ruling posted on his court’s website. Selna heard arguments today over Toyota’s motion to dismiss class-action, or group, lawsuits claiming economic loss linked to sudden acceleration.

“It is true that plaintiffs do not generally allege the precise dollar value of their losses, but that level of specificity is not required at this pleading stage,” Selna wrote in his 63-page ruling. “It is enough that they allege a tangible loss that can be proved or disproved upon discovery.”

Selna said he would issue a final ruling by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 25.

The economic-loss lawsuits, combined for pretrial filings and rulings before Selna, claim Toyota drove down the value of vehicles by failing to fix or disclose defects that triggered unintended acceleration. Federal suits claiming death or injury caused by such episodes are also combined in the Santa Ana court.

Millions Recalled

The company, based in Toyota City, Japan, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles for repairs related to sudden, unintended acceleration. In September 2009, the automaker announced a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of a defect that may cause floor mats to jam accelerator pedals. The company later recalled vehicles over defects involving the pedals themselves.

Toyota asked Selna to dismiss the car owners’ claim that the company knew of a defect in the vehicles’ electronic throttle control system and concealed it from consumers. The plaintiffs failed to identify an “actual defect,” the company said in court papers.

Selna said would let this claim go forward. “Plaintiffs’ fraudulent concealment claim pleads particular facts in support of the defect allegations, and that is all that is required at this stage,” he wrote in the tentative ruling.

“These rulings are only tentative and come at a stage of the legal proceedings in which the judge has to accept that what the plaintiffs allege are true,” said Toyota attorney Lisa Gilford in an interview after the hearing. “We are confident that as the facts develop in this case they will show that there are no defects in these Toyota vehicles.”

‘No Such Proof’

The burden “is now squarely on plaintiffs’ counsel to prove their allegations, and Toyota is confident that no such proof exists,” Celeste Migliore, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. The claim that Toyota’s electronic throttle control system is defective is “wholly unsubstantiated,” she said.

“If the judge finalizes these tentative rulings they will be a substantial victory for the plaintiffs,” consumer lawyer Steve W. Berman said after the hearing.

Toyota had also said the consumers couldn’t sue for losses on vehicles that hadn’t experienced a sudden unintended acceleration defect, according to Selna. “The court agrees with plaintiffs that experiencing an SUA defect is not required for standing,” Selna said in the ruling.

“Consumers who bought Toyotas expected these cars to be safe,” Berman said. “After thousands of crashes and the deaths of many people it is ludicrous for Toyota to argue that you could have a car that has a significant chance of running away from you but not have any legal rights until it actually runs away from you.”

‘Produced as Promised’

Toyota disputed the claims of economic loss at today’s hearing. The vehicles have “produced as promised,” Cari Dawson, a Toyota lawyer, told Selna.

“These cars have not malfunctioned, their owners have not had to pay any money for repairs or retrofit, and they have not suffered any loss,” she said.

Dawson argued that economic loss can’t be “speculative” based on losses that the owners may never suffer if they don’t sell their cars or if market conditions change and the values of Toyotas don’t drop.

The cases are combined as In re Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 8:10-ml-02151, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Santa Ana).