By Allison Grande

Law360, New York (December 01, 2011, 8:10 PM ET) -- A California federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the state’s litigation privilege barred a putative class of plaintiffs from maintaining its claims that Toyota Motor Corp.’s concealment of evidence during discovery in hundreds of product liability suits adversely affected their eventual resolutions.

Toyota argued that the litigation privilege trumped plaintiffs’ rescission and fraud claims because they were based on communications made during discovery, while its settlement agreements with the plaintiffs and other putative class members released it from the suit’s remaining Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations...