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U.S. Court Upholds $11 Million Acceleration Verdict Against Toyota
Toyota Motor Corp. has lost its appeal of an $11 million verdict that found the carmaker 60% liable for a triple-fatality crash in 2006 that was blamed on an accelerator defect.
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Toyota Motor Corp. has lost its appeal of an $11 million verdict that found the carmaker 60% liable for a triple-fatality crash in 2006 that was blamed on an accelerator defect.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the Minnesota jury had enough evidence to justify its decision.
The crash was caused when driver Koua Fong Lee, who claimed his 1996 Toyota Camry inexplicably accelerated as he approached a car stopped at a traffic light. The resulting crash killed two occupants of the stopped car and paralyzed a third, who later died. Lee was convicted of vehicular homicide and sent to prison.
But when reports surfaced in 2010 of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, Lee’s case was reopened. He won a motion to set aside his conviction and release him from incarceration.
Lee’s car was not covered by subsequent recalls involving more than 10 million vehicles. Toyota insists Lee’s car was not the cause of the crash but hasn’t indicated if it intends to challenge the appellate court ruling.
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