US court rejects Toyota's plea to limit lawsuits over recall

A federal judge in the US tentatively ruled late last week that he would not reject most of the class-action lawsuits filed by Toyota car owners against the Japanese carmaker over economic losses associated with the sudden acceleration of its vehicles.

In a fresh blow for the world's largest carmaker, US district court judge in California, James Selna, tentatively ruled that Toyota car owners had satisfied the court with sufficient evidence and allowed them to sue the company for economic loss due to alleged sudden-acceleration of its vehicles.

Toyota had challenged lawsuits filed by its customers in order to limit the number of people who can sue the company over alleged defect in its electronic throttle control system.

The ruling expected to be finalised in a written order by the court next week, would make the size of the potential consumer class action at roughly 40 million individuals, said attorneys for the plaintiffs.

Attorneys for economic loss committee for Toyota car owners want even those owners of cars that do not have a problem of sudden-acceleration to be able to sue, while the carmaker argues that only those who had problems with the car's electronic throttle-control system can claim compensation.
 
In the lawsuit, Toyota car owners claim that they lost significant resale value for their cars after Toyota issued millions of recall following complaints from thousands of consumers for sticking gas pedals that caused its vehicles to accelerate unintentionally.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that Toyota car owners "overpaid" for defective cars because the carmaker knew its vehicles had sudden-acceleration problems with its electronic throttle-control system and did not recall the cars early to install a brake override system that were being used by its competitors.