Toyota Motor Corp., its units, lawyers and any other employees have been ordered by a U.S. judge to preserve all documents about the "crashworthiness" of its vehicles after the carmaker was accused of destroying lawsuit evidence.

"The court finds an immediate threat of irreparable harm in that, under the allegations, a threat exists that evidence material to this case would be destroyed or altered," U.S. District Judge T. John Ward in Marshall, Texas, wrote Wednesday.

Ward's order stems from a federal lawsuit filed in July in Los Angeles by a former in-house attorney for Toyota. Dimitrios Biller claims Toyota destroyed documents that should have been retained as possible evidence in personal injury claims. A Texas lawyer representing families of crash victims who'd resolved their product liability claims with the company sued Toyota after Biller made his claims.

Dallas attorney Todd Tracy sought Ward's permission to reopen his clients' cases in light of Biller's claims because some suits were dropped due to lack of evidence.

His clients include families of people who died and others who were paralyzed. He is seeking unspecified damages and sanctions against the company on their behalf.

Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman, said in an e-mail the company had no comment about Ward's order.

Toyota has said it meets all legal and ethical standards in its management of lawsuits and product liability claims.

"We remain confident that we have acted appropriately," Michels said Sept. 17 in response to the Biller case.

Biller claims he suffered a mental breakdown and is unable to work after he was forced to perform unethical and illegal tasks and finally resigned from Toyota, according to the suit he filed against the company in July. He received a $3.7 million settlement when he left the company in 2007.

Ward's temporary restraining order, in effect until Oct. 7, requires that Toyota's in-house counsel and anyone with the company preserve all documents relating to any make model or year platform vehicle, crashworthiness data, and research projects related to product liability or crashworthiness.

Ward set a hearing for Oct. 7 to decide whether to extend his order.