Toyota Motor Corp., its units, lawyers and any other employees have been ordered by a U.S. judge to preserve all documents about the "crashworthiness" of its vehicles after the carmaker was accused of destroying lawsuit evidence.
"The court finds an immediate threat of irreparable harm in that, under the allegations, a threat exists that evidence material to this case would be destroyed or altered," U.S. District Judge T. John Ward in Marshall, Texas, wrote Wednesday.
Ward's order stems from a federal lawsuit filed in July in Los Angeles by a former in-house attorney for Toyota. Dimitrios Biller claims Toyota destroyed documents that should have been retained as possible evidence in personal injury claims. A Texas lawyer representing families of crash victims who'd resolved their product liability claims with the company sued Toyota after Biller made his claims.