Topic: Toyota Wins $2.6 million suit against "whistleblower" lawyer..

[rrocket]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/01/toyota-whistleblower-dimitrios-biller-slapped-with-2-6m-judgement/

The story of Dimitrios Biller has been one of the more colorful sideshows in last year’s media-scourging of Toyota, complete with a “book of secrets,” accusations of corporate criminality, counter-accusations of mental instability and a congressional pissing match. But with the Toyota media circus long gone, it now seems that l’affaire Biller was just another distraction from the mundane truth of the unintended acceleration scare. As the Detroit News reports, Biller and Toyota’s legal struggle is over… and Toyota, not Biller, is going to get paid.

    Biller, a California attorney who worked at Toyota Motor Sales USA for four years, from 2003 to 2007, and Toyota had agreed to have their disputes settled by binding arbitration, which limits the grounds for appeal.

    Biller had sued Toyota for defamation and fraud, while Toyota had sued him for violating confidentiality and severance agreements.

    Gary Taylor, a retired judge serving as the arbitrator, concluded in a final award that Toyota should receive $2.5 million in damages from Biller for 10 disclosure violations, plus $100,000 in punitive damages.

    “The evidence showed that Toyota suffered, and will continue to suffer, multiple harms from Mr. Biller’s contract breaches,” Judge Taylor wrote.

    He also ordered Biller to return documents, including attorney-client documents, he’d taken from Toyota and allow the company to inspect his computers.

[Juke1]

Does not change a thing, all this means is that no one will get to see what is in those documents.

[safristi]

...can the Judge put a BRAKE on the ongoing uncontrolled appeals.................      and maybe STOP them...........

[DKaz]

...can the Judge put a BRAKE on the ongoing uncontrolled appeals.................      and maybe STOP them...........

Big emphasis on the maybe.

[edwi]

For all non-believers please read to the tune of "Say It Ain't So"  (song by the American rock band Weezer).

Submitted by Patrick Rall on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:15

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna has announced that the massive collection of lawsuits against Toyota stemming from unintended acceleration issues will be tried in the first quarter of 2013.

These bundled lawsuits, which includes around 400 claims related to the Toyota’s unintended acceleration recall issue, involved claims ranging from economic losses in vehicle value to personal injury to wrongful death. Judge Selna did not state which types of claims would be handled first when the hearings begin in 2013 but he did request that the lawyers involved select “bellweather cases”.

Bellweather cases are samples chosen from a large group of cases that the lawyers feel best support the claims of the plaintiffs and defendants. In this case, Toyota’s lawyers will select individual cases out of the group that they feel best support their side of the argument while the lawyers of the 400 people suing for various reasons will select cases to best support their side.

Toyota has held strong to their claim that they did nothing wrong in the manufacturing or recall process of the vehicles responsible for this massive unintended acceleration recall, even though reports are still coming in of injuries and deaths related to the faulty Toyota vehicles. In late December, the first cases related to unintended acceleration was settled with the plaintiff walking away with $10 million and while Toyota pushed for the amount to be kept private, the California Supreme Court ruled against them. Depending on how the cases go in early 2013, that $10 million could be a drop in the bucket once the ruling is handed down on the 400 suits filed against the Japanese automaker.

Source: Bloomberg

Other Toyota News:
Dana Corp ordered to pay Toyota $25m for frame rust issues
Toyota pays $10 million for first unintended acceleration case
Judge rules that Toyota must disclose recall settlement terms
Toyota fined $32.4m more for lethal recall practices
Toyota's Reputation On The Decline According To Recent Study


search on torquenews.com

[blur911]

So Edwi...
 I have to ask, why'd you still buy a Toyota just 3 months ago if all this was going on?

[rrocket]

So Edwi...
 I have to ask, why'd you still buy a Toyota just 3 months ago if all this was going on?

Yo!!  Cause he knows it was all BS!   

[edwi]

Yes, I use to think that it was a load of BS. Some of my friends have 2008 and 2009 RAV4s and they have never
experienced this serious issue.

It may very well be that there is a manufacturing process flaw which produces 1 in X defective vehicles.
Who knows. Unfortunately we won the Toyota Nightmare Lottery whereby the brakes completely failed.
Hence now I'm a believer.

Let's be honest, manufactured defects can happen with any car maker. Some more serious than others.
It's the protocol that is most important aspect when dealing with serious defects.

Number one rule is to take the claim seriously. Give the benefit of the doubt to the customer.
I expected Toyota to take our car for some serious tests and to give us a loaner in the interm while they investigate.
Given the tainted history that Toyota has.

Instead we got a lecture on how to apply the brakes. I found this amazing since my wife and I have more
than 40 years experience combined. They ran a quick software test which produced only positive results. Toyota service then told us
that our car was "A" ok and to come and pick it up. They mentioned that if we experienced the issue again to bring it back.

"So, your on a airplane. The engines suddenly die. You go into a nose dive. The captain manages to restart the engines at the
last moment and land the plane. The support crew jump in and run thier tests on the ground. They find nothing wrong.
They then announce that they have not found anything wrong with the plane and that the passengers should board the plane
in order to try to make it to the final destination. How many passengers do you think will get back on board ?"

Anyways, stats don't lie. Have a look at "Study of Electronic Vehicel Control and Unintended Acceleration" NHTSA Informational Briefing,
June 30 2010. Very alarming statistics when it comes to Toyota road safety. Especially Post 2010. You can find it on the NHTSA web
site.

[safristi]

......How do U recognize a  WHISTLEBLOWER ..............


    He's looks like a MOTHERPUCKER..................or a referree  GO STEELERS...............

[edwi]

Toyota Issues First 2011 Recall  (and many more to come)  search on toyota-issues-first-2011-recall

As it turned out Toyota’s rotten luck with recalls is not over yet and continues into 2011. They’ve just announced a big worldwide recall of nearly 1.7 million vehicles including 1.2 million in Japan and 421,000 overseas. The issue is with  a rubbish fuel pipe which may crack and eventually lead to fuel leakage and fire.

In Japan, 19 models produced between 2000 and 2009 will be affected by the recall. In United States nearly 245,000 Lexus models are involved and in Britain 3,100 Lexus IS 250 and 15,500 UK registered Avensis vehicles.The owners of affected vehicles will receive a letter from Toyota notifying them to visit the nearest dealer ASAP.

This recent recall will probably ruin Toyota’s reputation for high quality, or what’s left of it. It already had an effect on the company’s shares as prices fall by 1.7 percent.

In Toyota Avensis’ case the problem is not jut the fuel pipe. The issue affecting certain Avensis 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre petrol engine models, produced between July 2000 and September 2008, is related to potential concerns with the fuel system. The first concern is related to the fuel pipe, where small cracks can potentially develop after a long period of time. The second concern is related to potential insufficient tightening of the fuel pump check valve. In the worst case, these issues may cause fuel to leak.

The repair involves replacing the fuel pipe and the fuel pump check valve. The job will take approximately two to four and a half hours to complete, at no cost to the customer.

[Gardiner Westbound]

As it turned out Toyota’s rotten luck with recalls is not over yet and continues into 2011. They’ve just announced a big worldwide recall of nearly 1.7 million vehicles including 1.2 million in Japan and 421,000 overseas. The issue is with  a rubbish fuel pipe which may crack and eventually lead to fuel leakage and fire.

Toyota's quality issues appear to be more than "rotten luck". They seem systemic, the inevitable result of hubris and cost cutting. It's the same shortsighted arrogance and disdain for customers that devastated the Detroit Three.

Toyota beancounters squandered its gold standard image for quality and integrity. Even Consumer Reports, which long held Toyota up as the exemplar of automobile quality, dumped on it. It fell from sixth to 21st  in the J.D. Power initial quality rankings. Owners report the current Camry is plagued with transmission issues, prematurely worn wheel bearings, leaky struts, faulty entertainment units, interior rattles, excessive oil consumption and paint delamination.

Bad things happen to companies that chisel on quality. Toyota’s greatest strength, consumer trust and loyalty, is slipping away. Notwithstanding unprecedented discounting Canadian 2010 sales were down 16.7-percent in a market that was up 6.55-percent. The wheels even came off the “Relentless Pursuit of Perfection”. Lexus 2010 sales fell 9.8-percent. Oh, what a feeling!

http://www.wheels.ca/article/asset/793371

[rrocket]

Bad things happen to companies that chisel on quality. Toyota’s greatest strength, consumer trust and loyalty, is slipping away. Notwithstanding unprecedented discounting Canadian 2010 sales were down 16.7-percent in a market that was up 6.55-percent. The wheels even came off the “Relentless Pursuit of Perfection”. Lexus 2010 sales fell 9.8-percent. Oh, what a feeling!

http://www.wheels.ca/article/asset/793371

Canada's car market..big whoop.  The sell fewer cars than California alone.  Best to look at North American sales.  Toyota..2 of the Top 5 selling cars, and Lexus, the #1 selling luxury brand (again).

[CatsEye68]

Canada's car market..big whoop.  The sell fewer cars than California alone.  Best to look at North American sales.  Toyota..2 of the Top 5 selling cars, and Lexus, the #1 selling luxury brand (again).

Ah yes, the fallback of the trashy novelist author when challenged that his work is of poor quality: "Yeah, but it sold some copies!!!".

Toyota is slipping and will continue to slip. The bigger the ship, the longer it takes for a given-size hole to sink it. But sink it does.

[rrocket]

Canada's car market..big whoop.  The sell fewer cars than California alone.  Best to look at North American sales.  Toyota..2 of the Top 5 selling cars, and Lexus, the #1 selling luxury brand (again).

Ah yes, the fallback of the trashy novelist author when challenged that his work is of poor quality: "Yeah, but it sold some copies!!!".

Toyota is slipping and will continue to slip. The bigger the ship, the longer it takes for a given-size hole to sink it. But sink it does.

Toyota cars continue to turn a profit.  Plus $48 BILLION in cash reserves. Contrast this when GM was sinking...they had had high sales, but lost money.  Very different.

[CatsEye68]

Toyota cars continue to turn a profit.  Plus $48 BILLION in cash reserves. Contrast this when GM was sinking...they had had high sales, but lost money.  Very different.

Irrelevant. What's important is not what happened in the past, but what will happen in the future. Toyota has shown no sign that they have resolved their many issues. Until they do, the good ship Toyota will continue to sink.

[rrocket]

Toyota cars continue to turn a profit.  Plus $48 BILLION in cash reserves. Contrast this when GM was sinking...they had had high sales, but lost money.  Very different.

Irrelevant. What's important is not what happened in the past, but what will happen in the future. Toyota has shown no sign that they have resolved their many issues. Until they do, the good ship Toyota will continue to sink.

Oh do tell, Oracle!   

It's not irrelevant at all.  Profit/Loss/Sales is what determines if you "sink or swim"  Toyota didn't have a sales loss last year despite their "many issues". Despite these "issues", their sales numbers were neutral to the previous year and they continue to make a profit.

If their issues were as great as you think, surely they would have lost money and lost sales.  Neither of which happened.