TOYOTA ROLLOVER VICTIMS MAY GET SECOND BITE AT APPLE

An unexpected consequence of the recent Toyota recalls, which have focused on unintended acceleration and braking problems in hybrid models, could be the re-opening of hundreds of previously settled rollover cases.  The Toyota recalls prompted a Congressional committee to subpoena records from a former Toyota lawyer, Dimitrios Biller, whose private lawsuit against the company accuses it of conspiring to hide information from hundreds of rollover victims.  According to the Committee, the documents–which may have remained hidden from public view absent its subpoena–prove that Toyota deliberately withheld relevant electronic records in rollover cases, vindicating Mr. Biller’s allegations and creating a new headache for the embattled Japanese auto maker.

Mr. Biller made headlines in the fall of 2009 when he sued Toyota, alleging that it concealed documents in hundreds of products liability suits.  Mr. Biller served as Toyota’s national managing counsel for rollover cases from 2003 to 2007.  His lawsuit alleged that Toyota refused to produce electronically stored documents related to vehicle design, engineering, testing and evaluation in hundreds of rollover cases.  His complaints to management about its practice led to threats against his employment, which ultimately caused him to develop depression and other psychiatric problems.  He ultimately left the company.

Mr. Biller’s lawsuit may have played out behind closed doors but for Toyota’s recent recalls and the negative attention surrounding them.  Mr. Biller had a non-disclosure agreement with Toyota.  The company sought to enforce the agreement by asking the court to seal his case.  Mr. Biller’s testimony, and the documentary evidence he had accumulated during his tenure at Toyota, might therefore have remained hidden from public view.  But then the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed the documents in the course of its investigation into the unrelated Toyota recalls.  The subpoena freed Mr. Biller to finally produce the controversial documents.

On February 26, 2010, Committee member Rep. Ed Towns (D.-NY) said Mr. Biller’s documents show that Toyota “deliberately withheld relevant electronic records” which should have been produced in rollover lawsuits.  The documents show that Toyota kept secret “books of knowledge” that contained design and testing data across all vehicle lines and parts.  Toyota refused to produce the books and kept their existence secret by entering into multi-million dollar settlements in cases where plaintiffs were closing in on the information.

Those settlements are now in peril. If plaintiffs can prove that the settlements were procured by fraud, they can likely rescind their settlement agreeements and re-open their cases.  Plaintiffs may also be able to show that the company’s practice of concealing information constituted an illegal racketeering scheme–an allegation that, if proven, could lead to significant compensatory and punitive damages.