Following up on our prior post, it has been reported that Toyota will pay $1.2 billion in penalties for lying about defects. See Toyota Settlement. This related to the accelerator defect that caused several accidents and deaths. You may recall after initial reports, there was a media campaign launched to discredit the reports of defects.
Now Toyota is paying a penalty in the billions of dollars. This once again demonstrates the importance of tort law as a means to force corporations to take responsibility for their actions. Further, punitive damages are a means to prevent corporations from placing consumers in danger once it is known that their product causes injury.
