Lawsuit Over Toyota Crash Moves Forward

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - It's a complicated trial that has the attention of many who drive a Toyota.

A federal judge paused the case for the afternoon as Koua Fong Lee and the family he crashed into take on the car company.

Javis Trice-Adams, Sr. was killed in that crash along with his son. His niece, who was paralyzed, died the next year.

Lee claims the 1996 Camry he was driving malfunctioned; Toyota says it was operator error.

Lee served two years in prison before news of other Camry malfunctions surfaced.

The criminal case was dropped and now the case is about money for both families. It's also a case that has impassioned strangers.

The moment Lee was released from prison for his criminal case, a stranger greeted him with a hug.

Trudy Balthazar had gone to great lengths to share his story. The Cottage Grove woman was so inspired, she wrote a book about the struggle.

"I knew something had to have been wrong with the vehicle; it couldn't have been Kuoa Fong Lee's fault," Balthazar said. "That was the very first time I met him, and it was a very emotional day. I waited a long time to see him reunited with his wife."

Now Lee and the surviving members of the family he crashed into are standing together in a lawsuit against Toyota.

"We're trying to show that the 1996 Camry had a defect under the hood," Lee's attorney Bob Hilliard said.

The Texas attorney is spending weeks in federal court going against Toyota's attorneys.

Toyota is insisting Lee, who only had his license for a year, confused the gas and the brake and that despite recalls on similar cars, his car was working just fine.

"He got his Minnesota driver's license in a Camry, where the brake and pedal are in the exact same position," Hilliard said.

A judge will now decide if it was a machine or a man that made the worst of mistakes.

"He still can't see much and he sees their faces every day," Hilliard said.

Balthazar is sitting in on this trial, which should last through the month. She plans to write another book.

Tuesday was a quiet day in court. An expert testified it's unlikely that, even if the throttle did get stuck, it would accelerate as Lee's did that day.

Toyota put out a statement last week. They say their vehicles are well designed, including the one Lee was driving, and they believe they'll prove that in court. They say that's all they'll be saying until the trial ends.