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Judge Refuses to Seal Record in Suit Alleging Discovery Abuses by Toyota
The National Law Journal
September 21, 2009
A federal judge in Los Angeles has refused to seal a wrongful termination suit in which a former in-house attorney for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. has asserted that the auto manufacturer hid and destroyed evidence in numerous rollover lawsuits.
"Defendant argues it will suffer further harm if we do not seal the complaint," U.S. District Judge George H. King wrote. "However, plaintiffs' complaint is now irreversibly in the public domain, as it is readily available on the Internet. Therefore, sealing the complaint would be futile at this point."
The suit, filed on July 24, threatens to reopen personal injury suits against Toyota brought on behalf of victims of rollover accidents.
Dimitrios P. Biller, who from 2003 until his resignation in 2007 was national managing counsel in the legal services group in charge of Toyota's rollover program, sued his former employer, Toyota Motor Sales USA, which is located in Torrance, Calif.; its parent, Toyota Motor Corp.; and several in-house attorneys, including Christopher Reynolds, the general counsel of the legal services group of Toyota Motor Sales, and former general counsel Dian Ogilvie.
The suit asserts violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Biller claimed that Toyota engaged in a conspiracy to destroy and hide evidence, which he said he was "ethically and legally obligated to turn over." He also accused Toyota of committing "criminal acts" in the rollover litigation.
"For years, Defendants Toyota Motor Corporation, its United States subsidiaries, and key Toyota executives, have conspired, and continue to conspire, to unlawfully withhold evidence from plaintiffs and obstruct justice in lawsuits throughout the United States against Toyota," Biller's complaint says. "Many of the plaintiffs in these lawsuits sustained catastrophic and fatal injuries in rollover accidents involving Toyota vehicles."
Biller, a former partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said that he suffered a mental breakdown and was forced to resign after Toyota attempted to thwart his efforts to turn over the evidence. He received a $3.7 million severance.
He said that his immediate supervisor, Eric Taira, assistant general counsel of Toyota Motor Sales, instructed him not to keep some electronic discovery materials in at least 300 rollover cases, which was "tantamount to the destruction of evidence and/or concealing evidence, either of which would have amounted to obstruction of justice."
Following a 2006 performance review, Biller wrote a 23-page memo outlining Toyota's "dysfunctional" product liability group and accusing Taira of causing the company to "violate laws, obstruct justice, and commit criminal and fraudulent acts during the discovery processes in specific cases," the complaint says. The memo, signed by Taira, was later destroyed, Biller asserted.
After resigning from Toyota, Biller, who lives in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, started a consulting firm called Litigation Discovery & Trial Consulting Inc. Toyota has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to shut down Biller's business on the ground that it violates a confidentiality clause of their severance agreement.
Biller also has filed a wrongful discharge suit against the Los Angeles district attorney's office, where he worked for about nine weeks as a deputy district attorney, beginning in June 2008. He claimed that he was terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because of diagnosed mental conditions and dyslexia. Toyota, which is not a party to that suit, has also been attempting to seal documents in that case.
Four days after Biller filed suit against Toyota in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder of the Central District of California denied Toyota's motion to seal the complaint.
The case later was transferred to King.
In its second request to seal the case, Toyota argued that the case served no public interest and that Biller was divulging confidential information about the company that is protected under the attorney-client privilege.
"Biller's conduct is not motivated by any public interest," Toyota said in court papers. "Rather, it is driven by his own selfish financial interests and a desire to damage TMS and his former colleagues."
On Sept. 15, King denied Toyota's second sealing motion.
Toyota's lawyer, David L. Schrader, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, did not return a call for comment. Mike Michels, vice president of communications at Toyota Motor Sales USA, released a statement via e-mail.
"While we are disappointed with today's ruling, we remain confident that we have acted appropriately in product liability cases and in all reporting to federal safety regulators," he said. "Mr. Biller's claims are inaccurate and misleading, and we intend to defend against his accusations vigorously."
He added: "We continue to believe that Mr. Biller's groundless assertions are no excuse for making public and distorting the context of confidential, competitive business information and trade secrets as part of his attempts to harm Toyota."
Biller's lawyer, Jeffrey Allen, a partner at Allen & Wohrle in Santa Monica, Calif., declined to comment.
