A U. S. federal judge on Friday reportedly selected two class-action veterans to spearhead the consolidated lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp (7203. T) over sudden acceleration problems with its vehicles.

It is reported that nearly 320 plus lawsuits have been filed in federal and state court against the Japanese automaker after it initiated recall over acceleration problems in several models and brake faults with the Prius hybrid.

U. S. District Judge James Selna, presiding over the first court hearing in the consolidated federal cases against Toyota, selected Steve Berman, of the Seattle-based firm Hagens Berman, and Elizabeth Cabraser, a founding partner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco.

Some lawyers have speculated that the Japanese auto giant faces serious civil liability of above $10 billion as it faces a safety crisis that has blemished its reputation.

The complaints related to runaway automobiles and other safety issues have resulted in the recall of above 8.5 million Toyota vehicles globally, most for repairs of ill-fitting floor mats and fixing gas pedals problems the automaker accuses for surging engines.

Many of the lawsuits reveal that the runaway acceleration glitch is because of an as-yet unknown electronic fault, which Toyota has blatantly denied.