Monday, November 24, 2014

NHTSA acting administrator Friedman: No more [automaker] hiding behind attorney-client privilege


Way too hot to handle.


In last Thursday's Senate hearing, Friedman once again asserted, loudly, that he has put his foot down and told 12 automakers that there is to be no more hiding behind attorney-client privilege. He said that in public, right to the faces of the involved senators.

Furthermore, to my astonishment, Friedman testified that they want every piece of evidence to help them uncover these [safety defect] problems.

[see my prior post on docs too hot to handle]

So Matt Weisman, NHTSA counsel, has still not returned my phone call to rescind his prior claim that Toyota's internal docs are not material for NHTSA to see, until and unless Toyota first checks them for attorney-client privilege.

Where are you, Matt? Your boss has changed the policy. But you haven't. You are still letting Toyota hide.

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By this point, a NHTSA admission that they screwed up about Toyota SUA would...well, you can imagine the embarrassment.