Toyota to ask for lower jury award, new trial in fatal crash

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments on whether Toyota Motor Corp. should be granted a new trial or pay less than the $11 million awarded to plaintiffs in a fatal crash in Minnesota.

A jury in February determined that Toyota was 60 percent to blame for the 2006 crash that killed three people and seriously injured two others in St. Paul.

Toyota will argue today that the driver of the Camry, Koua Fong Lee, should be required to pay $4 million of that payout. The jury found Lee 40 percent responsible for the crash.

Lee was convicted of vehicular homicide but granted a new trial. Prosecutors declined to retry him.

Toyota has also moved for a new trial, saying the court was wrong to allow certain witnesses and evidence.