LOS ANGELES - For $10 million, Toyota Motor Corp. managed to resolve what was seen as one of the most serious legal challenges in company history.
Yet the amount, less than 1 percent of the titan's last quarterly profit, could set the tone for the wave of litigation Toyota still faces after its problems with sudden acceleration drew world attention.
The automaker agreed to pay the money, a figure disclosed Wednesday, to settle a lawsuit filed by the relatives of four people, including California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor, killed in a fiery crash near San Diego in August 2009.
The accident set off a string of massive recalls, congressional investigations and federal fines, a series of events that experts said cost the world's largest automaker far more than $10 million.
Citing disappointment that the amount was revealed, Toyota said in a statement that it had forged the deal with Saylor's relatives so they could "move on from this difficult period."
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"We are disappointed that the amount of this settlement has now been made public against the express wishes of these families and Toyota," the automaker said.
Toyota's effort to prevent the amount from being made public - rejected this week by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge - also speaks to its concern that the number could set a bar for the scores of other sudden-acceleration suits in state and federal court, lawyers said.
"Ten million dollars is a strong indication of admission of liability by Toyota," said Edgar Heiskell, an attorney for the family of a Michigan woman killed in a crash they blame on sudden acceleration.
Heiskell and other attorneys with cases against Toyota said similarly large amounts for their clients could be sought in trial, even though Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr was emphatic in stating that it would not be admissible as evidence in other suits.
