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

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.
Thomas Whisenand | St. Paul Pioneer Press via AP 2006

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 Wednesday 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.

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