Judge lets lawsuits from Toyota crash move forward

Toyota crash
This June 10, 2006 photo shows a 1996 Camry driven by Koua Fong Lee that crashed into the back of an Oldsmobile Ciera in St. Paul, Minn. Lee said he could not stop the car. The Camry is older than those including in the recalls by Toyota for unintended acceleration problems. The crash killed three people and injured two others, all in the Oldsmobile.
AP Photo/St. Paul Pioneer Press, Thomas Whisenand

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.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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