Let the lawsuits begin in the sticky-pedal cases against Toyota. 

A southern California personal injury attorney has filed a class action suit against the automaker, in addition to the pending lawsuit he already had against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc.  There is also a pending suit against Toyota filed by a Milwaukee law firm.   

In the California complaint, the personal injury lawyer alleges violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Acts, as well as Unfair Competition Law, both under California law.  The suit also alleges breach of implied warranty, negligence and false advertising.

The sticky-pedal situation is not new to San Diego residents nor to San Diego personal injury attorneys.  There have been several reported cases of accelerator pedals sticking, including one fatal accident near San Diego.  Last week, there was a major recall due to this very problem, the second major recall by the auto-maker within the span of a few months.

One huge problem for Toyota is that the lawsuits allege a defect in design, specifically in the vehicles sold after 2001, where Toyota began installing electronic throttle systems.  These systems allegedly lack a fail-safe measure that triggers when the brake is applied, which in turn prevents the driver from overriding the throttle to slow the car, or to stop it. 

The Milwaukee firm filed a case on behalf of a client who lost his wife as a result of a car accident when his Toyota Camry accelerated in a restaurant parking lot and plunged off a cliff at Pismo Beach in California.

Interestingly, these lawsuits and recalls come on the heels of another lawsuit, where Dimitrios P. Biller, a former in-house attorney for Toyota alleged that the car company concealed and destroyed evidence in several rollover lawsuits. 

Toyota's problems are just beginning, as more such cases emerge.  Chances are that San Diego residents will be hearing much more about Toyota's problems in the coming months and years. 

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