A jury could begin deliberating on Wednesday to determine whether Toyota Motor Corp. should be held liable for the death of a California woman who was killed when her Camry apparently accelerated and crashed despite her efforts to stop.
The closing arguments that began Monday were expected to conclude Wednesday in a trial that is the first to go before a jury in state court dealing with unintended sudden acceleration. Known as a bellwether case, the outcome could help predict whether Toyota should be held responsible for sudden unintended acceleration as part of a larger group of litigation filed in state courts. The company already has agreed to pay more than $1 billion in lawsuits filed in federal court.
Noriko Uno, 66, died four years ago when she went onto a median and struck a telephone pole and a tree. Her family's attorneys blame Toyota for her death because the company failed to install a brake override safety system in her car. They are seeking $20 million in damages.
Toyota has defended its vehicles, saying it had a state of the art braking system and argued an override component would not have prevented the crash. The company's lawyers blamed the accident on driver error, saying Uno likely mistook the gas pedal for the brake.
"The brakes would have stopped the car in this accident if Mrs. Uno would have used them," said attorney Vincent Galvin Jr., who is representing Toyota.
