Judge Gives Toyota 30 Days to Produce Documents

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A U.S. federal judge gave Toyota 30 days to turn over the bulk of documents sought by class-action lawyers from previous investigations of complaints about its cars racing out of control, Reuters reported.

The order by U.S. District Judge James Selna marked a defeat for Toyota, capping the company's first courtroom skirmish with plaintiffs lawyers since scores of personal injury and class-action consumer claims filed in federal court against the automaker were consolidated last month.

The Japanese automaker faces potential civil liability estimated at more than $10 billion as it struggles to overcome the safety crisis that has tarnished its image.

Complaints of runaway vehicles have led to the recall of more than 8 million Toyota vehicles worldwide for repairs of ill-fitting floor mats and sticking gas pedals.

Many of the lawsuits assert that at least some of the acceleration problems are rooted in an as-yet unidentified electronic glitch, which Toyota has vehemently denied.

Two key U.S. lawmakers have said their preliminary review of internal documents turned over to Congress suggest Toyota "consistently dismissed the possibility" of electronic failures for years without thoroughly examining the issue.

Plaintiffs attorneys were seeking immediate possession of roughly 125,000 pages of internal documents already submitted to congressional panels and auto safety regulators.

Those papers have remained largely confidential, except for a relative handful cited in recent congressional hearings on Toyota's handling of complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration in its vehicles.