United States District Judge James V. Selna appointed Frank M. Pitre of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy as Co-Lead Counsel for the economic loss committee in the Toyota lawsuits. Nearly 70 plaintiffs' attorneys argued for a leadership role in the MDL. The MDL involves more than 200 lawsuits divided into two groups: those seeking losses on behalf of consumers and others who have lost value on their Toyotas, and those seeking damages for people who have been injured or killed in a Toyota. Frank Pitre, along with Steve Berman and Marc Seltzer were selected as Co-Lead Counsel for those cases seeking economic losses. Toyota, the world's largest automaker, faces at least 228 federal lawsuits and 99 state lawsuits. The Toyota City, Japan-based company has recalled more than 8 million vehicles for fixes related to sudden unintended acceleration. The automaker announced in September that it was recalling 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of a defect that may cause floor mats to jam accelerator pedals. The company later recalled vehicles over defects involving pedals themselves.
