A House panel says documents obtained from a former Toyota Motor Corp. "whistleblower" lawyer are troubling, and it wants the Japanese automaker to respond.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Ed Towns, D-N.Y., said documents obtained under subpoena from former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller "indicate Toyota deliberately withheld records that it was legally required to produce in response to discovery orders in litigation.
"Many of these documents concern 'rollover' cases in which a driver or passenger was injured, including cases where victims were paralyzed," Towns said.
A Texas court had blocked Biller from releasing the documents, but the subpoena from Congress superseded that ruling.
Toyota has rejected the claims of Biller, who was managing counsel in the product liability group of Toyota Motor Sales USA from April 2003 to September 2007.
"Toyota takes its legal obligations seriously and strives to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in its legal and regulatory practices. It is not uncommon, however, for companies to object to certain demands for documents made in litigation," spokeswoman Cindy Knight said Friday. "Consistent with that philosophy, we take appropriate steps to maintain the confidentiality of competitive business information and trade secrets. We are confident that we have acted appropriately with respect to product liability litigation."
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Source: The Detroit New
By: David Shepardson
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