Orange County District Attorney files civil suit; Toyota responds

Earlier this morning Orange County, California, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced that he will be filing a suit against Toyota Motor Sales USA in order "to enjoin them from continuing to endanger the public through the sale of defective vehicles and deceptive business practices."



In response to the latest lawsuit to be filed against Toyota, Toyota issued a short press release declaring that they have not yet received the complaint, and thus do not have a comment on the pending litigation.

According to some tallies, Toyota is currently facing at least 89 different class action lawsuits which could cost the automaker as much as $3 billion or more in damages.

The lawsuit being filed by the DA's office is a class-action suit meant to represent the residents of Orange County. According to Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the DA's office that spoke with the Detroit News, the suit will not seek an injunction to keep Toyota from selling vehicles, but instead will focus on getting Toyota to cease "unfair business practices."

This latest lawsuit follows a subpoena that was served in February by a New York grand jury that was reviewing cases of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, as well as on the Prius and Lexus hybrids. In regards to the subpoena, if Toyota is found guilty of intentionally misleading federal regulators about safety defects, Toyota and its executives could be charged with criminal liability under the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act.

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