Toyota May Face Economic Loss Suits in Addition to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death
18-May-2011 According to a California judge's recent ruling, Toyota may have additional lawsuits headed their way. Chicago personal injury lawyers and attorneys across the US have filed a wave of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits against Toyota surrounding an ongoing series of vehicle recalls. Last month, a US District Judge in Santa Ana, CA - James Selna - ruled that he would allow economic loss cases to move forward.
Chicago personal injury lawyers are already involved with pending lawsuits against Toyota, but as a result of Judge Selan's ruling it appears that Toyota could be facing several lawsuits of another nature - economic loss claims. According to the Chicago Tribune, "the plaintiffs argue that they have suffered economic losses because Toyota failed to disclose or repair problems that caused their cars to surge forward unexpectedly."
Judge Selna writes in his ruling, "Taking these allegations as true, as the Court must at the pleading stage, they establish an economic loss. Plaintiffs bargained for safe, defect-free vehicles, but instead received unsafe, defective vehicles. A vehicle with a defect is worth less than one without a defect."
It also appears that buyers may be able to file economic loss suits on the grounds that they overpaid for defective vehicles - even if they haven't attempted to sell their Toyota vehicle. The reasoning is that these cars and trucks were misrepresented as working properly at the time of the initial sale; in retrospect, the cars are not worth the same amount because they are defective.
Toyota, via a spokesperson, has said regarding the possibility of economic loss suits: "Toyota is confident that no defect exists in its electronic throttle control system. The burden is now squarely on plaintiffs' counsel to prove their allegations, and Toyota is confident that no such proof exists."
According to the Tribune article, "California consumer laws are considered more favorable to plaintiffs than laws in many other states. Toyota asked the judge to rule that California law does not apply to suits brought in other states."
At this time, the ruling only applies to California, but Chicago personal injury lawyers and attorneys in other areas who have filed lawsuits against Toyota will certainly be paying attention to see how this situation progresses. It is possible that economic loss law suits may be filed in addition to the already pending wrongful death, personal injury and other types of lawsuits agains Toyota.

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$1,225,000 settlement for a speedway patron who got hit by a baseball-sized rock kicked up by a race car. The rock hit her so hard, she needed an emergency tracheostomy and brain surgery.
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$6,000,000 settlement for our client, a 4 month old baby whose doctors had failed to diagnose a brain infection that left her with permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy.
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$11,800,000.00 in a product liability settlement for a father of five who tragically died when his tire treads failed, causing his vehicle to roll over.
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A $2 million verdict was obtained for a woman whose Ob/Gyn failed to refer her to a gynecologist to treat what turned out to be a malignant uterine sarcoma.
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We obtained a $1.7 million settlement in a nursing home neglect case in which a 72 year-old man suffered radiator burns so severe that he had to have his legs amputated.
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We obtained a $1.4 million award in a slip and fall case involving a 13 year-old boy who developed severe hip trouble after falling down the stairs of his high-rise.
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A $1.25 million settlement in favor of our client, an 18 year-old boy who lost most of his vision after being assaulted by a security guard.
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We obtained a $1.15 million settlement for our client, a little girl who suffered severed burns as a direct result of fire code ordinance violations.
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A union painter whose legs got crushed by a forklift recovered $1 million in damages.
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A $1 million settlement in favor of our client, a hemophiliac, who suffered severe soft tissue damage in a car accident.
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A union steel worker who injured his back moving a 300 pound steel beam in the rain recovered $1 million for his construction site work injury.
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A 54 year-old woman recovered $600,000 in a product liability settlement after her oven mitt exploded and severely burned her breasts.
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We obtained a settlement of $250,000 for the estate of a 21 year-old man who, after sustaining life-threatening injuries in an automobile accident, subsequently died in the hospital due to the staff's failure to insert a chest tube.
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A $150,000 verdict was recovered for the estate of a 79 year-old man, who suffered bed sores stemming from nursing home neglect that ultimately contributed to his death.
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