Judge Lets Lawsuits From Toyota Crash Move Forward

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A federal judge says a Minnesota man incarcerated after a 2006 fatal crash involving a Toyota Camry who was later cleared can't collect damages from the automaker for the time he spent in prison.

In a pretrial order Monday, Judge Ann Montgomery ruled that Koua Fong Lee was wrongly convicted due to a long chain of actions and decisions by prosecutors, his attorney, the judge and the jury. Given how all these factors came together, she writes, none of Toyota's alleged actions can be considered a "substantial factor" in bringing about Lee's incarceration.

But Montgomery is letting other parts of lawsuits resulting from the crash go forward for now, including injury claims by Lee and his relatives, other injured crash victims, and survivors of people killed in the crash.

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