February 4, 2010 6:29 PM
- Text
Ex-Lawyer: Toyota Willfully Deceptive
(CBS/AP)
Toyota's public relations nightmare appears far from over.
The beleaguered automaker is facing renewed allegations that it systematically withheld information and ignored safety issues that could have prevented fatal accidents.
Dmitrios Biller, a former Toyota lawyer who handled product liability lawsuits, said in multiple media interviews that the automaker willfully tried to suppress evidence of defects.
"Toyota is a very secretive corporation," Biller told the Los Angeles Times. "It doesn't believe anybody outside the corporation deserves to know what is going on inside, even if it kills somebody."
"You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system. They did not have any respect for our laws," he also told ABC News.
The claims add yet another layer to Toyota's safety controversy: the company has recalled nearly 4.5 million vehicles worldwide to repair faulty accelerator pedals; the U.S. government announced a broad investigation - extending beyond Toyota - into suspected problems with electronic systems that could affect engines; and the automaker admitted its popular Prius hybrids had a design flaw in the brake system, which the government will also probe.
Read more about the Toyota recall at CBSNews.com:
Econwatch: Can't Wait to Buy a Prius
Government Opens Probe into Prius Brakes
Toyota Admits Prius Brake Problem
Toyota Reports $1.7B Quarterly Profit
Are Toyota Woes and Opening for GM, Ford?
LaHood: I Overstated Toyota Warning
Ray LaHood Comments Show Toyota Owners' Conundrum
Toyota Dealers Get $75K to Win Back Buyers
Analyst: Recall Costs Toyota $155M a Week
Biller has been entangled in legal issues with Toyota since the summer. In a federal racketeering lawsuit filed in August, he accused the automaker of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover death and injury cases, in a "ruthless conspiracy" to keep evidence "of its vehicles' structural shortcomings from becoming known," CBS News Investigative Unit contributor Myron Levin reported then.
Biller and Toyota have also been grappling over roughly 6,000 internal documents in Biller's possession - proof, he claims, of the company's pattern of fraud. The documents have been kept sealed by court order, but a California arbitrator is expected to decide soon whether they can be made public, according to the L.A. Times.
A decision to release the documents could have drastic implications for other lawsuits against the automaker.
At the time of the federal lawsuit, Toyota labeled Biller's accusations "inaccurate and misleading," in a statement to CBS News.
"Toyota takes its legal obligations seriously and works to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards," the company said.
The automaker also maintains that Biller "is legally bound not to reveal documentation he acquired when he was in our employ," spokeswoman Celeste Migliore told the Los Angeles Times.
Toyota said any such disclosures would violate the terms of Biller's nearly $4 million severance agreement. Biller worked at the company between 2003 and 2007.
In a statement to ABC, Toyota said Biller was merely a disgruntled employee. The company also said he wasn't qualified to speak about problems with accelerator pedals, as he never worked on those types of cases during his tenure there.
Biller is no stranger to litigation. His lawsuit against Toyota also notes that he has a separate wrongful termination claim against the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, where he briefly worked from May to August 2008, as an assistant district attorney. Biller said he was fired over what he described as a dispute over sheriff's deputies failing to show up for hearings or failing to bring evidence.
Meanwhile, harried U.S. Toyota dealers began receiving parts to repair defective gas pedals in millions of vehicles and said they'd be extending their hours deep into the night to try and catch up. Toyota said that would solve the problem - which it said was extremely rare - of cars unaccountably accelerating.
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his advice to an owner of a recalled Toyota would be to "stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it." His comments prompted new questions and rattled Toyota stockholders, causing shares to plunge 6 percent overnight on Wall Street.
LaHood later told reporters, "What I said in there was obviously a misstatement. What I meant to say ... was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."
Adding to Toyota's woes, LaHood said his department had received new complaints about electronics and would undertake a broad review, looking beyond Toyota vehicles, into whether automobile engines could be disrupted by electromagnetic interference caused by power lines or other sources.
Toyota has said it investigated for electronic problems and failed to find a single case pointing in that direction. Toyota declined comment on LaHood's remarks.
Toyota is set to face additional questioning from U.S. congressional and other government investigators. Toyota has shut down several new vehicle assembly lines and is rushing parts to dealers to fix problems with the accelerators, trying to preserve a reputation of building safe, durable vehicles.
Late last year, Toyota recalled about 5 million vehicles over problems with floor mats trapping gas pedals and on Jan. 21, recalled some 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. amid concerns that gas pedals could become stuck or be slow to return to the idle position.
The latest recall involves 2009-10 RAV4 crossovers, 2009-10 Corollas, 2009-10 Matrix hatchbacks, 2005-10 Avalons, 2007-10 Camrys, 2010 Highlander crossovers, 2007-10 Tundra pickups and 2008-10 Sequoia SUVs.
U.S. lawmakers who are now digging into the recalls said they would also look into the Prius. Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee, said his panel would request a briefing from Toyota officials about the hybrid.
Many consumer groups have questioned whether Toyota's gas pedal fix will work and have asserted it could be connected to problems with the electronic throttle control systems.
The beleaguered automaker is facing renewed allegations that it systematically withheld information and ignored safety issues that could have prevented fatal accidents.
Dmitrios Biller, a former Toyota lawyer who handled product liability lawsuits, said in multiple media interviews that the automaker willfully tried to suppress evidence of defects.
"Toyota is a very secretive corporation," Biller told the Los Angeles Times. "It doesn't believe anybody outside the corporation deserves to know what is going on inside, even if it kills somebody."
"You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system. They did not have any respect for our laws," he also told ABC News.
The claims add yet another layer to Toyota's safety controversy: the company has recalled nearly 4.5 million vehicles worldwide to repair faulty accelerator pedals; the U.S. government announced a broad investigation - extending beyond Toyota - into suspected problems with electronic systems that could affect engines; and the automaker admitted its popular Prius hybrids had a design flaw in the brake system, which the government will also probe.
Read more about the Toyota recall at CBSNews.com:
Econwatch: Can't Wait to Buy a Prius
Government Opens Probe into Prius Brakes
Toyota Admits Prius Brake Problem
Toyota Reports $1.7B Quarterly Profit
Are Toyota Woes and Opening for GM, Ford?
LaHood: I Overstated Toyota Warning
Ray LaHood Comments Show Toyota Owners' Conundrum
Toyota Dealers Get $75K to Win Back Buyers
Analyst: Recall Costs Toyota $155M a Week
Biller has been entangled in legal issues with Toyota since the summer. In a federal racketeering lawsuit filed in August, he accused the automaker of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover death and injury cases, in a "ruthless conspiracy" to keep evidence "of its vehicles' structural shortcomings from becoming known," CBS News Investigative Unit contributor Myron Levin reported then.
Biller and Toyota have also been grappling over roughly 6,000 internal documents in Biller's possession - proof, he claims, of the company's pattern of fraud. The documents have been kept sealed by court order, but a California arbitrator is expected to decide soon whether they can be made public, according to the L.A. Times.
A decision to release the documents could have drastic implications for other lawsuits against the automaker.
At the time of the federal lawsuit, Toyota labeled Biller's accusations "inaccurate and misleading," in a statement to CBS News.
"Toyota takes its legal obligations seriously and works to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards," the company said.
The automaker also maintains that Biller "is legally bound not to reveal documentation he acquired when he was in our employ," spokeswoman Celeste Migliore told the Los Angeles Times.
Toyota said any such disclosures would violate the terms of Biller's nearly $4 million severance agreement. Biller worked at the company between 2003 and 2007.
In a statement to ABC, Toyota said Biller was merely a disgruntled employee. The company also said he wasn't qualified to speak about problems with accelerator pedals, as he never worked on those types of cases during his tenure there.
Biller is no stranger to litigation. His lawsuit against Toyota also notes that he has a separate wrongful termination claim against the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, where he briefly worked from May to August 2008, as an assistant district attorney. Biller said he was fired over what he described as a dispute over sheriff's deputies failing to show up for hearings or failing to bring evidence.
Meanwhile, harried U.S. Toyota dealers began receiving parts to repair defective gas pedals in millions of vehicles and said they'd be extending their hours deep into the night to try and catch up. Toyota said that would solve the problem - which it said was extremely rare - of cars unaccountably accelerating.
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his advice to an owner of a recalled Toyota would be to "stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it." His comments prompted new questions and rattled Toyota stockholders, causing shares to plunge 6 percent overnight on Wall Street.
LaHood later told reporters, "What I said in there was obviously a misstatement. What I meant to say ... was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."
Adding to Toyota's woes, LaHood said his department had received new complaints about electronics and would undertake a broad review, looking beyond Toyota vehicles, into whether automobile engines could be disrupted by electromagnetic interference caused by power lines or other sources.
Toyota has said it investigated for electronic problems and failed to find a single case pointing in that direction. Toyota declined comment on LaHood's remarks.
Toyota is set to face additional questioning from U.S. congressional and other government investigators. Toyota has shut down several new vehicle assembly lines and is rushing parts to dealers to fix problems with the accelerators, trying to preserve a reputation of building safe, durable vehicles.
Late last year, Toyota recalled about 5 million vehicles over problems with floor mats trapping gas pedals and on Jan. 21, recalled some 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. amid concerns that gas pedals could become stuck or be slow to return to the idle position.
The latest recall involves 2009-10 RAV4 crossovers, 2009-10 Corollas, 2009-10 Matrix hatchbacks, 2005-10 Avalons, 2007-10 Camrys, 2010 Highlander crossovers, 2007-10 Tundra pickups and 2008-10 Sequoia SUVs.
U.S. lawmakers who are now digging into the recalls said they would also look into the Prius. Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee, said his panel would request a briefing from Toyota officials about the hybrid.
Many consumer groups have questioned whether Toyota's gas pedal fix will work and have asserted it could be connected to problems with the electronic throttle control systems.
Latest Now in National
- Dozens of pets rescued from Ohio fire find homes
- Navy unveils "USS Gabrielle Giffords"
- Navy names ship for ex-Rep. Giffords
- Hackers claim hits on CIA, U.N. Web sites
- Stars rehearse for Grammys 2012
- Uzbek man pleads guilty in plot to kill Obama
- Coach found dead of apparent suicide in Pa. jail
- Powell father kept dozens of pics of son's wife
- Banks could still face prosecution despite deal
- Purple squirrel in Pa. remains a mystery
- HealthPop: Online dating and jaw engraving
- Obama signs Giffords' final bill into law
- The Showbuzz: The Amazing Spider-Man
- CNET's Next Big Thing in Tech 2012
- Panetta to Marines: "Look into" SS flag photo
- 14-year-old shoots self in N.H. school cafeteria
- A reporter's life: On the trail of Mitt Romney
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Netflix settlement trims 14 pct off 4Q earnings
- First lady: Girls can choose to have campaign role
- Business Highlights
- US bishops reserve judgment on birth control rule
on Facebook
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
- Josh Powell had "incestuous" images on his home computer, authorities say
on CBS News
