Litigation

NASA exonerates Toyota on sudden acceleration

By Ted Frank

The report was no surprise to my readers, but it somehow surprised the stock market: Toyota stock went up 4%. [NYT]

So why did it take the government so long to release the report? As Walter Olson asks, "Did it make a difference that the federal government has taken a proprietor's interest in major Toyota competitors GM and Chrysler, or that a former trial lawyer lobbyist heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? Those questions might be worth a hearing at the newly reconstituted House Energy and Commerce Committee."

Meanwhile, the entirely bogus "economic loss" class action against Toyota continues; the court refused to dismiss the case. I hope when a class certification motion is made, Toyota argues that the attorneys are not adequate representatives of the class because it is the class attorneys, by contributing to a pseudoscientific hysteria over nonexistent electronic flaws in Toyota, that created any economic loss. Certainly any settlement that pays any attorneys' fees will register an objection from this Prius owner.

Full post as published by Point of Law on February 09, 2011 (boomark / email).