Toyota Legal Evasion?
An interesting news report by the assoicated press investigates how Toyota seems to engage in evasion and other deceptive tactics in legal proceedings.
Toyota has routinely engaged in questionable, evasive and deceptive legal tactics when sued, frequently claiming it does not have information it is required to turn over and sometimes even ignoring court orders to produce key documents, an Associated Press investigation shows.
For example, in a Colorado product liability lawsuit filed by a man whose young daughter was killed in a 4Runner rollover crash, Toyota withheld documents about internal roof strength tests despite a federal judge's order that such information be produced, according to court records. The attorneys for Jon Kurylowicz now say such documents might have changed the outcome of the case, which ended in a 2005 jury verdict for Toyota. Read More
The automanufacturers and their legal team don't always seem to think the rules apply to them.
The AP reviewed numerous cases around the country in which Toyota's actions were evasive, and sometimes even deceptive, in providing answers to questions posed by plaintiffs. Court rules generally allow a person or company who is sued to object to turning over requested information; it's permitted and even expected that defense attorneys play hardball, but it's a violation to claim evidence does not exist when it does.
Suing foreign car manufacturers is difficult on many levels. Often times they claim the difficulty of producing certain documents or people for deposition due to the fact that they are in Japan or another foreign country. Other times, they claim the documents requested do not exist, and it is very difficult to just get a court order to go in there and search for the records the plaintiff needs to prove her case.
"They've used the Pacific Ocean as a great defense to producing documents," said Graham Esdale, a lawyer in Montgomery, Ala., who has sued Toyota. "If Ford or General Motors tells you something and you don't believe that it's right, you can get a court order to go get access to the documents instead of relying on them. We can just go there and start poring through documents. We don't have that with the Japanese manufacturers."
Now having said all that, even with the difficulties we face in bringing a case against foreign manufacturers - it can be done. And frankly, our clients who have suffered harms due to negligence on the part of these companies deserve the opportunity to bring their case forward.
If you would like to discuss your potential claim, please feel free to contact us at 1-877-829-7211.
