"The evidence showed that Toyota suffered, and will continue to suffer, multiple harms from Mr. Biller's contract breaches,"
Christine Tierney -
DETNEWS - Jan 5, 2011
When liability becomes, well, a liability --Ed.
Shown is a congressional, bi-partisan slap-a-thon in March over Biller's whistle blowing suit.
A retired California judge arbitrating a dispute between Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. sales company and a former employee, Dimitrios Biller, ordered Biller to pay Toyota $2.6 million in damages and stop disclosing confidential company information.
Biller, a California attorney who worked at Toyota Motor Sales USA for four years, from 2003 to 2007, and Toyota had agreed to have their disputes settled by binding arbitration, which limits the grounds for appeal. Biller had sued Toyota for defamation and fraud, while Toyota had sued him for violating confidentiality and severance agreements.
Gary Taylor, a retired judge serving as the arbitrator, concluded in a final award that Toyota should receive $2.5 million in damages from Biller for 10 disclosure violations, plus $100,000 in punitive damages."The evidence showed that Toyota suffered, and will continue to suffer, multiple harms from Mr. Biller's contract breaches," Judge Taylor wrote. He also ordered Biller to return documents, including attorney-client documents, he'd taken from Toyota and allow the company to inspect his computers.
Toyota said it was gratified by the award. "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," said Christopher Reynolds, group vice president and general counsel at Toyota Motor Sales. "Throughout this process, Mr. Biller has continuously made misleading and inaccurate allegations about Toyota's conduct, and we feel this award
discredits his meritless attacks on our company."
Biller was not immediately available for comment. A licensed California attorney, Biller spent most of his time at Toyota as a managing counsel in charge of rollover cases in the product liability section. ...
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