Toyota settlement of sudden acceleration lawsuit approved
Toyota Motor Corp. won approval for a $10 million settlement with the family of a California Highway Patrol officer who together with three others died when their car sped out of control and crashed.
California Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr approved the product-liability settlement at a hearing today in Los Angeles. Bob Baker Lexus, the San Diego dealership that had loaned the Lexus ES350 involved in the crash to Mark Saylor and his family, had objected to the settlement that leaves the dealer facing unresolved negligence claims.
Saylor, 45, his wife, their 13-year-old daughter and his brother-in-law, Chris Lastrella, died in the crash on Aug. 28, 2009.
“We're pleased the court has affirmed the private, amicable settlement that Toyota and the Saylor and Lastrella families reached in good faith through mutual respect and cooperation,” the carmaker said today in an e-mailed statement.
Larry Willis, a lawyer for the dealership, said in a phone interview that he believes Toyota should be responsible for any claims Bob Baker Lexus still faces.
John Gomez, a lawyer for the Saylor family who wasn't at the hearing, didn't immediately return a call to his office.
According to the March 2 lawsuit filed by Saylor's family, the Lexus accelerated on its own and reached speeds of more than 100 miles an hour before it came to the end of a freeway and broke through a fence. In a 911 emergency call Saylor's brother- in-law made from the car before the crash, he said that the accelerator was stuck, according to the complaint.
The company, based in Toyota City, Japan, said in a statement in December that a December 2009 San Diego County Sheriff's Department report on the crash “determined that the cause was an incompatible all-weather floor mat from a Lexus SUV model that was installed incorrectly in the ES 350 sedan at the dealership.”
The report concluded that the accelerator pedal became trapped either in the grooves of mat, which is larger and thicker than the correct mat for the sedan, or underneath it, according to Toyota's statement. The report also found that clips to hold the mat in place were not attached, which could have allowed it to move forward, Toyota said.
Willis, the lawyer for Bob Baker Lexus, said in December that he disagreed with the report's conclusions, which he said were only preliminary, and that a subsequent investigation indicated that the accident may have been caused by an electrical problem with the vehicle.
Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles for repairs related to sudden unintended acceleration. In September 2009, the automaker announced a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of a defect that may cause floor mats to jam accelerator pedals. The company later recalled vehicles over defects involving the pedals themselves.
Toyota's American depositary receipts, each representing two ordinary shares, rose $1.65, or 1.8 percent, to $91.75 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.