Criminal cases getting second look following Toyota recalls

2010-03-01 05:45:33 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Product liability)

Legal news for product liability attorneys. A jailed man may be feed after his case is reexamined, due to Toyota’s sudden acceleration cases.

Product liability lawyers alert- A man may be freed from jail after a reevaluation of his case that was prompted by Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems.

Minneapolis, MN—Since Toyota initiated the sudden acceleration recalls, criminal cases involving incidents of sudden acceleration are getting a second look. Koua Fong Lee’s case is one of the cases that is now getting a second look, which landed him a sentence of eight years in prison, as reported by MSNBC.

Lee, who was a Hmong immigrant with about a year’s worth of driving experience, was on his way home from church on June 10, 2006 with his pregnant wife, 4-year-old daughter, father and brother, when the 1996 Toyota Camry they were traveling in suddenly shot up the I-94 St. Paul exit ramp and slammed into the back of a car that was stopped at a red light. Police estimated the car was traveling at between 70 and 90 mph. The crash killed Javis Trace Adam, 33, and his son, Javis Adams Jr., 10. Devyn Bolton, 6, who is Adam’s niece, was paralyzed from the neck down, and tragically passed away soon after Lee was convicted for the crash.

During Lee’s 2007 trial, he contended that he did everything he could to brake before impact. The judge did not believe Lee’s testimony, and gave him eight years in prison, after a city mechanic testified that brakes were in working condition. Now that Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles due to cases of sudden acceleration, court systems are reevaluating cases like Lee’s. The Camry that Lee was driving when the fatal collision occurred was not apart of Toyota’s recalls, but Toyota did recall a number of 1996 Camry’s to fix an issue with defective cruise controls that could cause incidents of sudden acceleration. Lee’s attorneys are currently filing paperwork to have his wrecked vehicle reexamined to determine if there was a case of sudden acceleration.

Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for product liability lawyers.