Oh what a feeling
Every law firm’s fear: translator decides to keep documents she translated and become whistle blower
Sep 25th, 2014 | By mrposse | Category: Top Story
25 September 2014 - A
translator who provided internal Toyota documents to news reporters has
objected to the carmaker’s requests for sanctions against her for
alleged failure to obey a protective order in litigation over sudden
acceleration.
....Toyota was hiding the truth about what
caused the sudden unintended acceleration, she believed. They were
blaming floor mats and many other causes, the “ghost in the machine” as
one Toyota PR suit said. But the ghost wasn’t floor mats or driver
error, and the company knew it she says.
As a translator, Benjaminson had access
to thousands of Toyota’s classified documents spanning from 2002-2010,
mostly run-of-the-mill accident reports and records of repairs, but also
internal business memos and emails from engineers. As the months went
by, a pattern began to emerge from the static of the corporate
correspondence and technical manuals, an occasional whisper that turned
increasingly into a roar she could not ignore.
As Benjaminson dug deeper, she felt she had no choice but to reveal what she saw, consequences be damned.
Despite the strident denials from
Toyota, and the US government reports, Benjaminson felt that the
documents in her hands proved that Toyota engineers knew there was a
serious problem with their cars causing sudden acceleration, something
well beyond oversized floor mats.
Not surprisingly, Benjaminson was fired by her translation agency after they found out she was behind the leaks.
....
She has lost a lot of income, but in the end she says “maybe it was stupid, but I was honest”.
.....
However … as always … money seems to rule. As the directors at two
staffing agencies told us: “we can price remote reviews at a much, much
lower cost for the client than an in-house review and that is why they
are becoming so popular, especially translation projects”.
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Whole story here.