Personal Injury Law

Fourth Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Toyota

By Michael

The mother of a 21-year-old woman killed in a 2007 car crash recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota, claiming a sticking accelerator in the woman?s vehicle led to the accident.

Sandra Livingston, a Long Island, New York resident, filed the federal suit against the Japanese auto maker on Feb. 22. A spokesman for Toyota said he would not make any comment about pending court actions.

The vehicle in question in this lawsuit is a Toyota Yaris, which at this time is not included in the eight different Toyota models that have been recalled due to braking and accelerating issues. About 8.5 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled worldwide.

Tyrene Livingston was driving on state Route 30 in east Pittsburgh around 8:45 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2007. According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, she was pursuing a master?s degree at the University of Pittsburgh and was on her way to a teaching internship at the time.

The personal injury lawsuit claims Tyrene Livingston?s Yaris started accelerating quickly, and she was not able to stop the vehicle with the brakes.

?The Yaris crossed four lanes of the highway at a high rate of speed, went over a curb, crashed through a guardrail, went down an embankment, and into some trees, eventually resulting in her death,? according to the suit.

Four days before the crash, Tyrene Livingston had taken the vehicle into an auto shop for a brake inspection and test. She was told nothing was wrong with her vehicle, according to the Post Gazette.

Bob Massie Toyota, the service shop that gave the inspection, was not named a defendant in the lawsuit. Sandra Livingston?s attorney Todd Walburg told the Post Gazette that he has not found any proof of wrongdoing on the part of the shop.

?Even though the Yaris isn’t included on any recall lists, our investigation shows that all Toyota vehicles, from 2002 to the present, can possibly have a defect in the electronic throttle system,? Walburg said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Livingston?s suit is among two others filed by Pittsburgh-area residents against the automaker, citing acceleration problems. McMurray resident Robert Elmes, 76, sued Toyota in 2008 for about $75,000 in damages stemming from an accident he was in while driving a 2002 Camry.

Elmes claimed in his injury lawsuit that his Camry accelerated without any warning to a high speed and he drove off a bank. HIs 2002 model Camry was not included in the recent recall.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on February 28, 2010 (boomark / email).