Amid thousands of accounts of sudden acceleration involving Toyota vehicles are tragic stories like that of 22-year-old University of Texas student Anna Pham. Pham's mother, a Vietnamese immigrant, saved for years to purchase the 2008 Toyota Camry for her daughter. In December, Anna was backing out of a parking space at an Austin shopping center when the accelerator revved, causing the car to shoot backward and crash into another car. Anna suffered injuries to her face, chest, shoulder and leg.

Attorneys with The Lanier Law Firm and The Tammy Tran Law Firm have filed a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp and the dealership where the car was purchased, The Auto Spot. "A car is not a cheap little piece of equipment," says attorney Mark Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm. "It costs a lot of money and it ought to at least have the same safety features that you have in a blowdryer to keep it from frying you if it drops in a bathtub."

The Lanier Law Firm is handling more than 300 cases against Toyota for clients in California, New York and Texas. Mr. Lanier has served as a national commentator on Toyota's problems on both CNBC's "Squawkbox" and Fox Business Network's "Varney & Company," where he stated, "Juries tend to penalize corporations when they place profits ahead of the consumer's safety." His views also have been featured in a commentary published by FOX News.

Toyota has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles covering 17 different models, including recalls based on unexpected acceleration, faulty floor mats, brake problems, drive shaft malfunctions, and other problems. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recorded 34 deaths attributed to unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. Mr. Lanier says Toyota has not responded to his call for an investigation of whether the recalls are a process problem, such as malfunctioning electronics, rather than a parts problem like faulty floor mats. In January, Mr. Lanier won a $56.3 million verdict against heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. in a vehicle defect case.

"There are a lot of the same issues in this case," says Mr. Lanier. "We have a company that knew it had a problem and did little to nothing to fix it while customers suffer the consequences."