During a status conference in the sudden-acceleration multidistrict litigation, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. attorney Joel Smith told a federal judge that lawyers on both sides planned to collaborate on the selection of upcoming trials — that is, with “as much civility as we can, with what’s at stake,” he added.
Much is at stake for Toyota. After paying more than $1.6 billion to resolve claims by consumers and shareholders, Toyota faces the first major trials blaming injuries and deaths on alleged defects associated with sudden acceleration in its vehicles. A Los Angeles jury in the first of these trials began deliberating on October 2. A second case begins on October 7 in Oklahoma City and a third is scheduled for November 5 in Santa Ana, Calif.
