Days after an Oklahoma City jury returned a $3 million verdict in a lawsuit involving the crash of a 2005 Camry that injured the driver and killed a passenger, Toyota attorney John Hooper called plaintiffs attorney W. Daniel “Dee” Miles. Within about three months, according to Miles, he and Hooper, a partner in Reed Smith’s New York office, along with other lead plaintiffs attorneys suing Toyota Motor Corp., hashed out a process to possibly settle the remaining 450 cases alleging sudden-acceleration defects.
“I can’t tell you what he said because the negotiations are confidential,” said Miles, head of the consumer fraud section at Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles in Montgomery, Ala. “I can’t say that — but the timing of it is obvious.”
