US Special Panel Asked to Consolidate Dozens of Class-Suit against Toyota

A US special court panel is set to decide on the venue for some 100 cases filed against Toyota in the next two weeks. The court was asked by lawyers and complainants to move some 100 cases filed against the carmaker in a single court for litigation.

According to the charges, owners lost massive amount of money after the value of their vehicles dropped due to the recall.

A special panel handling the dozens of class action lawsuits against automobile giant Toyota Motor Co was asked on Thursday to immediately decide where to hold the hearing of the multi-billion dollar case filed by millions of car owners over the safety issues of their vehicles.

Hundreds of thousand of Toyota owners, according to the lawsuits, said that the value of their cars dropped significantly after massive recalls of the car company due to braking and gas pedal problems of some of its models.The US Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said that the decision over the single court that will handle all the cases will be announced in two weeks time.

The seven-member panel also said that the court will expect the car company to settle roughly 100 cases filed in the US filed against them, which could cost the carmaker billions of dollars.In an interview, Lawyer David R. Cohen said that it is inevitable that a court will have to handle the case, saying that it will be a ton of paperwork for the judge that will oversee the trials.

Cohen, is considered as a “special master” on cases such as this, is in charge in helping judges to handle similar cases.He added that the chosen judge will have to decide on key issues, which include the owners’ claim for their cars’ value.

Meanwhile, many of the law experts said that Toyota will ask the court to dismiss the cases filed against.

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