On July 24, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., was sued in federal court in Los Angeles by a former in-house attorney, Dimitrios P. Biller, for allegedly illegally withholding evidence in a number of rollover death and injury cases. In response to news reports of the court filing, the company has issued the following statement:

 

 

Toyota takes its legal obligations seriously and works to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards. Mr. Biller continues to make inaccurate and misleading allegations about Toyota?s conduct. Toyota believes it acted appropriately with respect to product liability litigation.

 

We are disappointed that Mr. Biller has elected to file this lawsuit in an attempt to avoid what we believe are his obligations as an attorney formerly employed by Toyota. In our view, Mr. Biller has repeatedly breached his ethical and professional obligations, both as an attorney and in his commitments to us, by violating attorney-client privilege in defiance of a court restraining order that Toyota obtained against him.

 

Toyota has initiated proceedings against Mr. Biller, and we intend to defend against Mr. Biller?s claims vigorously. As with all pending litigation and legal matters, we are not in a position to comment further.

 

Contacts:

Mike Michels 310-468-7730

Julie Alfonso 310-468-4625

Zoe Zeigler 310-468-4868