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Toyota Settles Class Action And The Lawyers Get Rich
Lawsuits: Don’t have a case? No problem. In the class-action racket, all you need is a deep-pocketed defendant and a scare campaign. Play the game right and you get a cool $200 million.
There’s still a buck or two to be made in America, even in the half-speed Obamaconomy. For lawyers adept at working the system of class-action litigation, 2012 has turned out to be a banner year.
Plaintiffs’ firms are expected to get about $150 million from a $2.43 billion settlement with Bank of America in September. And a Toyota Motor Corp. settlement this past week may bring in $200 million, plus expenses, to the lawyers involved, if approved by a federal judge.
The Toyota settlement is notable not just for the legal fees but also for the interesting fact that the plaintiffs didn’t have a case. The lawsuit — sparked by incidents of accelerators apparently sticking and sending cars hurtling into deadly crashes — alleged the accidents were caused by faulty electronic throttle controls.
But a federal probe concluded driver error was the cause most of the time, and that floor mats interfering with accelerator pedals were at fault in other cases.
So was the suit dropped? Of course not.
Menderman
December 31st, 2012
Here is a pic of my neighbors truck..the accelerator stuck and it went in the drink. That was 2009.
http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/s/s/14/media14/2009/Feb/16/LiveLeak-dot-com-397fdcf8ae06-steve_slye.jpg?d5e8cc8eccfb6039332f41f6249e92b06c91b4db65f5e99818bad2904447dadfc31f&ec_rate=300
Edith McCrotch
December 31st, 2012
Who wants to join me in a class action suit against the ABA?
Then after that we can sue the moron who placed the sticky daily graphic up above that slows this webpage to a snail’s pace.
Sidekick
December 31st, 2012
You are correct, the case had no merit but in the age of GM being a client/servant of the federal government and therefore the government’s interests are being best served by a lawsuit against a competitor, well there you have it.
sTevo
December 31st, 2012
Shakespeare got it right…
jane
December 31st, 2012
We could have avoided Obamacare had we pushed for national legal aid legislations first. I mean, after all, we all complain that the rich have better access to better legal than the poor, right? I still think it’s something we should push for. I’d love to see the melee.
J Galt
December 31st, 2012
“Lawsuit makes lawyers rich.”
Oh really! Who could have seen that one coming?