June 1, 2010

Judge Orders Toyota to Perform Document Dump

by Amanda Bronstad
The National Law Journal

The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation against the Toyota Motor Corp. ordered its lawyers to turn over tens of thousands of pages of internal documents that the company has already provided to Congress, which is investigating the company's vehicle recalls.

U.S. District Judge James Selna acknowledged the challenges Toyota faces in providing the documents, many of which could end up being privileged or including trade secrets. Some of them still need to be translated into English from Japanese.

But he appeared convinced that some of the documents could be provided within a month, especially since they already are in the hands of Congress.

Such a schedule, Selna said during a hearing on Friday, would "advance the ball" in the litigation, which includes some 300 lawsuits against Toyota. Most of the claims seek economic losses on behalf of consumers; others are personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.

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