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First Hearing in Toyota Acceleration Lawsuit on May 13

James Selna, the judge appointed by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to oversee the lawsuits in Toyota's unintended acceleration cases has decided to call all lawyers involved to a conference on May 13 in Santa Ana, California. This first meeting has been set to organize the manner in which the following hearings will take place.

Toyota is facing some 180 consumer and shareholder class action status lawsuits, as well as 57 individual suits claiming personal injuries or deaths. The case is named “In re: Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation.”

Selna, a 28 years veteran of private law practice, will have a hard time ahead given the large number of actions, but the fact that he scheduled the first hearing so soon is a sign for the plaintiffs that the judge means business.

“This is a good sign that this judge will get out in front of this litigation," Mark Lanier, one of the lawyers was quoted as saying by Autonews.

As a result of the way in which the Japanese carmaker handled the entire unintended acceleration issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked for a $16.4 million fine to be given to Toyota.

When the fine was announced, the US made official the fact that Toyota knew about its accelerator problems much sooner than it announced the recall. Toyota has until April 19 to respond to the fine. Until now, the carmaker said nothing.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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