Toyota Motor Sales in the U.S. has won a key legal battle against its former in-house attorney, Dimitrios P. Biller, who accused Toyota of withholding evidence in product liability cases. An arbitrator has found in Toyota’s favor on all of its claims against Biller, assessing $2.5 million in damages, and $100,000 in punitive damages. A permanent injunction against Biller to prohibit “future misconduct” was also ordered.
Biller was a lawyer in charge of rollover cases at TMS from 2003 to 2007. He had a prior history of suing an ex-employer, a prosecutor’s office in California, when he sued Toyota in 2009, claiming it had suppressed evidence in hundreds of lawsuits.
At the time Toyota vehemently denied the charges, but the suit was filed as Toyota’s handling of safety matters in what ultimately became huge recalls for unintended acceleration was growing into a national controversy and a media feeding frenzy.
“Throughout this process, Mr. Biller has continuously made misleading and inaccurate allegations about Toyota’s conduct, and we feel this award is an appropriate consequence of his actions and completely discredits his meritless attacks on our company and our people,” Toyota said in an arbitrator approved statement yesterday.
The permission to comment was granted, according to the arbitrator, because of “unauthorized public disclosures” of the proceedings that have occurred with regularity and that “appear to have been one sided.”
Given the normal confidentiality of a private arbitration proceeding, the approval by the arbitrator to allow Toyota to publicly disclose and comment on the final award is an attempt to right a grievous wrong in my view. I only hope that the media who pilloried Toyota on the Biller matter now devote an equal amount of space to its resolution. (Bet first on the proverbial snow ball traversing hell unmelted.)
This equal treatment admonition also applies to the politicians who used the Biller matter during Toyota safety hearings last winter. At that time I wrote: “Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who has subpoenaed but not revealed (at least officially) some of Biller’s documents, alleges that they show possible violations of court discovery orders…
“Congressman Towns, who – never ever forget – is up for re-election at a time when voters are clearly exasperated with ineffectual incumbents for their lack of action on financial regulation, fiscal responsibility and job creation, among other policy failures, subpoenaed Biller’s documents on Thursday, February 18, 2010 before the well-publicized hearing he chaired took place on February 24…
“Taxpayers footing the bill for this very expensive and ongoing exercise should note that the Biller matter is also being pursued in a formal legal venue where rules of evidence about the admissibility of documents apply. U.S. court procedures – unlike Congressional hearings –provide for the cross examination of witnesses making claims such as Towns’ to allow for further exploration of the charges.
“In addition, on a good day, such procedures separate the innocent from the guilty.”
It was a good day for Toyota.
The real question is, Why was Mr.Biller so PO’d at Toyota? Most unusual for a corporate staff lawyer to defect.
“Toyota takes its legal obligations very seriously and works hard to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards. We are gratified that the credibility of Toyota’s legal organization and the integrity of our legal professionals have been validated. We believe that the Arbitrator’s award clearly vindicates Toyota’s position and reaffirms the critical importance of attorney-client privilege as a cornerstone of our legal system. Throughout this process, Mr. Biller has continuously made misleading and inaccurate allegations about Toyota’s conduct, and we feel this award is an appropriate consequence of his actions and completely discredits his meritless attacks on our company and our people.”
Additional Information on Award and Orders
As Toyota has stated throughout this matter, the Company respects the confidentiality of the private arbitration proceeding. It is only with the Arbitrator’s express permission that Toyota is publicly disclosing and commenting on the Final Award and related orders. This permission was granted, as the Arbitrator states, in light of “unauthorized public disclosures” of the proceedings that have occurred with regularity and that “appear to have been one sided, with prejudice to Toyota.”
In the Final Award, the Arbitrator found in Toyota’s favor on all of its claims against Mr. Biller and ruled against Mr. Biller on his remaining claims, assessing significant damages, including punitive damages, against Mr. Biller and entering a permanent injunction against Mr. Biller to prohibit future misconduct. Highlights of the Arbitrator’s award and orders include the following:
• The Arbitrator granted Toyota’s motion for summary judgment dismissing Mr. Biller’s RICO claims and ruled against Mr. Biller on his claims of defamation and fraud and/or false promises. The Arbitrator also ruled in favor of the specific Toyota legal professionals whom Mr. Biller sued, finding “no evidentiary basis for [Mr. Biller] having joined these individuals as parties.”
• The Arbitrator found Mr. Biller liable for breach of contract, conversion and statutory unauthorized computer access. Specifically, the Arbitrator said the “evidence showed multiple instances of unauthorized disclosure,” of the company’s confidential information, citing Mr. Biller’s website, his public seminars, his discussions with the media and his decision to send “thousands of documents” to a Texas court “without a request, subpoena or legal compulsion.” He also noted the harm suffered by Toyota in these disclosures “is real and it is extensive.”
• Noting that “Toyota has conservatively claimed damages for selected disclosures,” the Arbitrator awarded $2.5 million, upholding the liquidated damages provision of $250,000 for each of 10 unauthorized disclosures.
• The Arbitrator also concluded there was “clear and convincing evidence of entitlement to punitive damages” and awarded $100,000, the amount he described as “conservatively” suggested by Toyota.
• The Arbitrator also entered a permanent injunction instructing Mr. Biller to return the Toyota confidential documents that he took from the company and prohibiting Mr. Biller from making future wrongful disclosures of confidential Toyota information.