Sarah Mirando  |  January 8, 2013

Category: Legal News

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Toyota Hybrid Brake Defect Class Action Lawsuit Update

By Kimberly Mirando

 

Toyota Hybrid Brake DefectToyota Motor Corp. asked a federal judge yesterday to deny certification of a class action lawsuit alleging its hybrid vehicles contain a braking system defect, saying consumers did not suffer injury because Toyota fixed the problem through a recall.

“Toyota fixed the problem. And that’s the end of the story,” said Toyota’s attorney Michael Mallow.


Toyota hybrid owners filed five separate class action lawsuits in February 2010 alleging Toyota fraudulently induced them into purchasing their hybrids by concealing the alleged braking system defect. The alleged defect caused intermittent loss of braking power during application of the brakes on rough or slick road surfaces, which allegedly increased the cars’ stopping time and distance, resulting in numerous accidents and creating unreasonable safety risks, the plaintiffs alleged.

The Toyota hybrid brake defect class action lawsuits were consolidated before U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney in August 2010.

Mallow urged Judge Carney to deny certification of the consolidated Toyota hybrid brake class action lawsuit on the grounds that the recall — which updated the anti-lock braking system software of the 2010 Prius and 2010 Lexus HS 250h – prevents certification because plaintiffs cannot show on a class wide basis that Toyota’s failure to disclose the defect had caused them harm or damages.

Plaintiff attorney Karin Fisch, however, said there were triable issues as to whether the defect “did in fact disappear after the recall,” and that the true test for certification is whether the hybrids had a “propensity to exhibit the defect” at the time they were purchased.

“The issues here are very, very simple,” Fisch said at Monday’s hearing. “We have a common design, a common defect, a common failure to disclose, injury at the point of sale and a common method for proving each of these…. this is the type of case that is routinely certified in this district as a class action.”

Jonathan Shub, another plaintiff attorney, also made the argument that the recall was not relevant to class certification.

“The case is about a point-of-purchase injury. … It’s a case about deception,” he said.

The Toyota Hybrid Brake Defect Class Action Lawsuit case is In re: Toyota Motor Corp. Hybrid Brake Marketing, Sales Practice and Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 10-ml-02172, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The plaintiffs are represented by Karin Fisch of Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams LLP, Jonathan Shub of Seeger Weiss LLP, and Marc Godino of Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP.

 

UPDATE: A federal judge granted Toyota’s motion to deny certification to the Prius brake defect class action lawsuit in a July 30, 2013 decision.

 

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Updated August 7th, 2013

 

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One thought on Toyota Hybrid Brake Defect Class Action Lawsuit Update

  1. Jeaneen Widmeier says:

    Reading all these comments is making me sick to my stomach. I just bought a 2005 Kia Sorrento in this past August. At less than 90 days of having it the crankshaft sensor went. When I purchased the car from McCafferty in Langhorne, PA the sales person gave me a warranty claiming it covered everything and included a rental. Well, the warranty company did not and I had to pay nearly 600$. Tonight it overheated and antifreeze all over the ground as I tired to get to work.This is the first car I bought with car payments. I’m so upset thinking I was doing something good. I’m single mother, working 2 jobs, as well as attending nursing school. It’s Christmas and I’m broke. I can’t believe I’m having all these car problems. I feel like I should have kept my 95 Chevy blazer. If I need to constantly fix a car it’s easier without car payments. What can I do? Is there any legal action I can take? This is just awful for anyone to have to go through.

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