Toyota Owners Clear Hurdle Toward Lawsuits Over Sudden Acceleration

Toyota Motor Corp. will have to face lawsuits over deaths and personal injuries caused by allegations that its vehicles have an engineering defect that leads to unintended acceleration, so says a final ruling by a federal judge in California.

Lawyers for injured customers and families of those killed in accidents apparently provided sufficient evidence to allow their cases to go forward. That was the ruling of U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana, Calif. Selna earlier denied Toyota's motion to dismiss class-action suits claiming economic losses related to sudden acceleration.