TORRANCE, Calif. -
Toyota scored a major legal victory this week when an arbitrator upheld the automaker’s claims against a former in-house attorney while also dismissing the man’s remaining claims against the car company.
The arbitrator also issued a permanent injunction against Dimitrios Biller — the ex-employee involved in the case —and ordered that he pay damages totaling $2.6 million to the automaker.
Biller was declared liable by the arbitrator for breach of contract, conversion and statutory unauthorized computer access, Toyota said.
He now must pay Toyota a sum of $2.5 billion for 10 counts of disclosing confidential information from the company without permission.
Biller’s website, public seminars, conversations with the media and documents sent to a court in Texas were all avenues through which he allegedly breached confidentiality.
Furthermore, the arbitrator ruled that Biller pay $100,000 in punitive damages, which is said to have been a conservative amount.
Per the permanent injunction, Biller must give Toyota back the confidential documents. He was also ordered not to disclose confidential Toyota information again.
Regarding the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act allegations made against the automaker by Biller, Toyota had moved for summary judgment to dismiss these claims and the arbitrator ruled in favor of the car company.
Moreover, the arbitrator also sided with Toyota with regards to the claims of defamation and fraud and/or false promises Biller made against the automaker.
Also, Biller had filed suit against certain legal professionals at the automaker and the arbitrator sided with the Toyota professionals, saying there was no reason for him to go after these individuals.
“Toyota takes its legal obligations very seriously and works hard to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards. We are gratified that the credibility of Toyota’s legal organization and the integrity of our legal professionals have been validated,” group vice president and general counsel Christopher Reynolds said in a statement.
“We believe that the arbitrator’s award clearly vindicates Toyota’s position and reaffirms the critical importance of attorney-client privilege as a cornerstone of our legal system,” he continued.
“Throughout this process, Mr. Biller has continuously made misleading and inaccurate allegations about Toyota’s conduct, and we feel this award is an appropriate consequence of his actions and completely discredits his meritless attacks on our company and our people,” Reynolds added.
With regard to sharing the details of the arbitration, Toyota emphasized that it was granted permission by the arbitrator to do so. The automaker’s statement noted: “As Toyota has stated throughout this matter, the company respects the confidentiality of the private arbitration proceeding. It is only with the arbitrator’s express permission that Toyota is publicly disclosing and commenting on the final award and related orders. 
“This permission was granted, as the arbitrator states, in light of ‘unauthorized public disclosures’ of the proceedings that have occurred with regularity and that ‘appear to have been one sided, with prejudice to Toyota,’" the statement added.