Personal Injury Law

Toyota makes case for U.S. legal system

A recent editorial again highlighted the need for the U.S. legal system. Despite what proponents of tort reform and damages caps want you to believe, the United States personal injury lawsuit system works. The need for our system was recently reinforced by the Toyota product liability recall. The author of the editorial told the story of a man whose Toyota Camry started speeding wildly on a scenic cliff-side drive in California when it plunged into the ocean 70 feet below. While the driver survived, his wife who was a passenger in the car did not survive. Only a year later, a woman was crushed in her Camry when it became suddenly unstoppable, airborne, and hit a tree. Again, last summer, four members of a family were killed after the gas pedal on their Lexus was stuck.

Despite reports of dangerous Toyota errors, the company was quiet and blamed driver error or faulty floor mats. Similarly, federal regulators did not press the company. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration opened and closed half a dozen investigations without any significant action on the product liability.

The writer of the editorial addressed that United States court system and the role that injury attorneys play in it provides an early warning system, alerting regulators and news organizations to product hazards that the public would likely not be aware of. Courts also get responses from manufacturers who might have been able to fend off federal investigators if they decided to investigate product concerns. The writer of the article summed it up when he said it?s time to recognize once more that litigation over dangerous products and services can avert countless wrongful deaths and personal injuries.

To read the full editorial, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog on February 28, 2010 (boomark / email).