[UPDATED:] DA Sues Toyota

Like all of you, I have been reading one headline after another,
watching one television story after another, about run away Toyotas and
sudden acceleration problems. Texas, San Diego, New York – new day, new
place. 

I know that the federal government, through the National Highway
Transportation Safety Administration, or “NHTSA,” has been trying to
solve this problem for several years to no avail; Congress has begun
their inquiry into the matter.

As these cases continue to pile up, I became increasingly uneasy,
knowing that many thousands of California consumers have purchased
defective Toyota vehicles.  I became increasingly concerned that Orange
County consumers may be purchasing many more Toyotas without knowing
the full facts.

I feel it is the duty of the Orange County District Attorney's Office
to protect the public and our consumers from unlawful, unfair, and
fraudulent business practices.  I feel it is our duty to make sure
Toyota is not gaining an unfair business advantage over other car
companies who are not doing what Toyota is doing. 

We demand to know – did Toyota, in their relentless quest to become the
number one car maker in the United States, put profits over people? The
People of the State of California and citizens of Orange County have
the right to know. Toyota drivers have the right to know. Other drivers
sharing the road with Toyotas have the right to know.  Other carmakers
that follow the law have the right to know. 

The family of the late California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor has the right to know.   

This morning, the Orange County District Attorney's Office with the
assistance of the Robinson, Calganie & Robinson law firm filed an
unfair business practices lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. 
This is the first lawsuit in the nation to bring a consumer protection
lawsuit against Toyota. 

I am proud to get the assistance of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson
law firm.  As you know, the Orange County District Attorney's Office
has a long standing tradition of partnering with private entities for
the benefit of the People. For example, we have a program called Trial
Attorney Partnership and the Reserve District Attorney program where
experienced attorneys volunteer as.  Since 2003, we have had over 80
attorneys volunteer over 160 months of time, saving the taxpayers $2
million.

You may remember that in 2002, we joined forces with the Robinson,
Calcagnie & Robinson law firm in taking action against giant
international oil companies to clean up poison from ground water.  As a
result, we forced the oil companies to clean up over 300 sites and pay
over $25 million in penalties and millions more in unlimited costs for
cleanup of contaminated sites. 

It's no secret that our office has been enduring a severe budget
crisis.  We have to prosecute the same number of cases with 10 percent
less prosecutors and investigators.  As important as protecting the
public from unfair business practices and this case may be, I could not
take prosecutors away from prosecuting murderers, rapists and gang
members. 

We all know that as soon as we file this suit against the world's
largest, most successful car corporation, they are going to be
parachuting in lawyers, with all kinds of legal tactics up their
sleeves.  We need the assistance of a law firm, with expertise in these
types of cases, to help us defend against the barrage of legal attacks
we expect from this gigantic international corporation.  Believe me,
they will spare no expense to hire an army of lawyers from fancy firms.

Let me boil down this 18-page complaint. 

We will be alleging in court on behalf of the People of Orange County that:
* Toyota knowingly sold cars and trucks with defects that cause Toyotas to accelerate suddenly and uncontrollably;
*These defects exist in hundreds of thousands of Toyotas sold to Californians over the last several years;
*Toyota has known about these defects but intentionally did not disclose them to California purchasers;
*Rather than halt the sales of products in California until the problem
was fixed, Toyota made the business decision to continue selling and
leasing their defective products to Californians;
*Toyota failed to disclose these defects and actually took affirmative steps to hide and mislead the public about the defects;
*California consumers did not know about the defects;
*Millions of California consumers have been harmed by owning or leasing
defective Toyotas, which completely undermines the safety and
reliability of the vehicles; and
*The value of every Toyota owned by California consumers has been reduced because of the defects. 

There is a detailed timeline of key facts with which we intend to prove
that Toyota ignored, omitted, obfuscated, and misrepresented the
evidence that was amassing for many years regarding serious safety
defects in their cars.  I believe they knew about these defects because
of the many complaints they received. 

Since 2003, the National Highway Transportation and Safety
Administration has conducted several investigations.  No solutions.
Toyota recalled 55,000 cars in 2007. Toyota recalled 4.2 million cars
in October 2009.  After sending letters to consumers claiming “no
defect,” they recalled one million additional cars in November 2009.

In January of this year, Toyota recalled an additional 3.4 million
vehicles for sticking accelerator pedals.  We believe they falsely
claimed to NHTSA that by fixing the sticking pedals and the floor mat
problems, the sudden acceleration problem would also be resolved.   In
February, Toyota recalled all 2010 Prius, Lexus HS 250h, and Camry
Hybrids due to faulty brakes. 

On March 5, 2010, data revealed that more than 60 drivers had
complained of sudden acceleration in their Toyota vehicles after they
had been “repaired” in the recall. As of March 6, 2010, the number of
deaths attributed to unintended acceleration in Toyota cars and trucks
had reached 58 people.

Profits over people? How many more deaths? With this lawsuit, we are
seeking to permanently enjoin Toyota from continued unlawful, unfair,
deceptive, and fraudulent business practices as it pertains to both
consumers and competitors. We are seeking $2,500 for every violation of
the Unfair Business Practices Act.  We will demand recovery of
attorneys' fees, investigation costs, and any other reasonable costs. 

SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney (OCDA), with the
assistance of the law firm of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson, has
filed a civil lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (Toyota)
to enjoin them from continuing to endanger the public through the sale
of defective vehicles and deceptive business practices. The OCDA is the
first District Attorney's Office in the nation to bring a consumer
protection lawsuit against Toyota.

The complaint filed against the defendant accuses Toyota of knowingly
selling and leasing hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks with
defects that cause sudden unexpected and uncontrollable acceleration
(hereafter known as defects). The complaint also states that Toyota
continues to sell their defective vehicles to Californians without
fixing the known problems and adequately informing consumers of the
defects.

OCDA's Jurisdiction to File Suit
Toyota is a California corporation with its principal headquarters in
Torrance. As Toyota is accused of committing unfair business practices
in the State of California, including in the County of Orange, the OCDA
has the right to bring this consumer protection action on behalf of the
People of Orange County. This case is based solely on California law
and is directed only at sales, leases, other wrongful conduct, or
injuries occurring in California.

Toyota Vehicles Subject to this Complaint
The following Toyota and Lexus brand cars and trucks have defects. The
model years are designated in parenthesis: Camry (2007 to 2010), Avalon
(2005 to 2010), Prius (2004 to 2009), Tacoma (2005 to 2010), Tundra
(2007 to 2010), ES350 (2007 to 2010), IS250 and IS350 (2007 to 2010),
and all Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles with model years between 2002
and 2010.

Background on Conduct by Toyota
The complaint accuses the defendants of ignoring, omitting,
obfuscating, and misrepresenting evidence that there was a serious
safety defect in their vehicles that was resulting in complaints,
injuries, and deaths.

Beginning in February 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) launched a series of investigations reviewing
complaints into Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles regarding speed
control, engine surging, and sudden acceleration. As is outlined in
detail in the complaint, Toyota and NHTSA repeatedly closed their
investigations for various reasons without finding defects, citing a
lack of resources, “no evidence of a system of component failure,”
“vehicles operated as designed,” “issue is not a safety concern,” and
stating that the claims were of “ambiguous significance.”

In September 2007, Toyota recalled 55,000 vehicles with floor mats
suspected of interfering with the accelerator pedal. In August 2008,
NHTSA closed another investigation into the sudden acceleration of
Tacomas, without finding defects. This was their eighth investigation
into Toyota since 2003, with 2,600 complaints at that time regarding
Toyota vehicles.

In October 2009, Toyota issued a floor mat recall on 4.2 million Toyota
and Lexus vehicles after receiving reports in the United States and
Canada that pedals were sticking in certain models. Toyota sent letters
to consumers claiming “no defect exists” in their vehicles. The floor
mat recall was expanded by over one million additional vehicles in
November 2009. Two additional investigations by NHTSA were opened in
December 2009 into different Toyota models for stalling and stability
control problems.

In January 2010, Toyota recalled 3.4 million vehicles for sticking
accelerator pedals. They are accused of falsely claimeing to NHTSA that
by fixing the sticking pedals and floor mat problems, the sudden
acceleration problem would also be resolved. They are accused of making
this false representation with the knowledge that the sudden
acceleration problem was not caused by sticking pedals or floor mats
and was not resolved by fixing the unrelated defects.  In February
2010, Toyota recalled all 2010 Prius, Lexus HS 250h, and Camry Hybrids
due to faulty brakes.

On March 5, 2010, data revealed that more than 60 drivers had
complained of sudden acceleration in their Toyota vehicles after they
had been “repaired” in the recall. As of March 6, 2010, the number of
deaths attributed to unintended acceleration in Toyota cars and trucks
had reached 58 people.

Toyota's Knowledge of the Defects and Impact on Public
The OCDA intends to prove the following in the litigation: Despite
knowledge of the defects, Toyota continues to sell and lease its cars
and trucks while knowingly concealing and suppressing information about
the defects from consumers. Since 2001, Toyota is accused of falsely
representing to the public that Toyota-manufactured vehicles are safe
and reliable. Toyota continues to conceal from consumers that their
vehicles cause sudden, uncontrollable acceleration when drivers are not
touching the accelerator and attempt to use their brakes.

Toyota is accused of continuing to manufacture, distribute, market,
sell, and lease dangerously defective vehicles without disclosing their
defects to consumers. Purchasers and lessees of recalled vehicles are
not provided with substitute cars and are left to drive dangerous
vehicles. As a result of the defective vehicles, people have been
injured and killed. Owners and lessees of Toyota vehicles have suffered
property damage, economic damage, and many are unable to sell or trade
their cars. Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds average the devaluation of
Toyota vehicles between 4 percent and 8 percent.

Unlawful, Unfair, and Fraudulent Business Practices
The OCDA intends to prove the following in the litigation: The
defendants' concealment, omissions, and misconduct have caused
California consumers to suffer injury and economic losses by failing to
disclose defects to consumers prior to their purchasing or leasing of
Toyota vehicles. 

Toyota's is accused of deceptive practices that have given them an
unfair advantage over their competitors, who do not engage in such
practices. In 2003, Toyota became second to General Motors in car sales
with almost 6.8 million vehicles sold. In 2006, Toyota passed General
Motors as the top selling car company in the United States, with over 8
million vehicles sold. Toyota reported more than $200 billion in
worldwide income for their fiscal year ending in March 2010.