The 26 lawyers appointed to steer the nationwide litigation against Toyota Motor Corp. have traveled down similar roads before, having obtained billion-dollar settlements in some of the nation’s largest mass actions and record verdicts involving catastrophic automobile defects.
The team, which includes 22 plaintiffs’ lawyers and four attorneys for Toyota, were named to lead the multidistrict litigation (MDL) now pending in Santa Ana, Calif. Most of the lawyers have worked with each other before, often in multidistrict litigation against pharmaceutical companies over recalled drugs. Others have coordinated with one another on cases involving automotive injuries, including the nationwide litigation against Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone Corp.’s Firestone Tire Co. over recalled tires that were linked to accidents in Ford Explorers.
