About 25 law firms seeking class action status for lawsuits filed against Toyota Motor Corp. in more than 20 states have formed a consortium, an attorney coordinating the group said Thursday.

Approximately 20 other lawsuits seeking class action status on behalf of consumers also have been filed against the automaker because of accelerator problems that have led to the recall of more than 8 million automobiles.

Those 40 suits do not include individual personal injury claims that consumers have filed against Toyota.

Tim Howard, coordinator of the Attorneys Toyota Action Consortium, said a court hearing on whether all the class action cases will be consolidated is expected March 25 before a multidistrict panel in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Mr. Howard is a professor of law and policy at Northeastern University and an attorney at Howard Associates P.A. in Tallahassee, Fla.

The lawsuits seeking class action status share common allegations that consumers lost value in and the use of their cars because of defective parts that sparked the recall.

Coral Gables law firm Colson Hicks Edison is expanding to Washington, D.C.

The firm's new office is headed by Ron Kleinman, former managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig's Washington office, and Colson Hicks Edison partner Joseph Matthews. Kleinman and Matthews will focus on litigation and arbitration.

Kleinman is recognized as an expert on international and treaty law who has been successful in securing compensation for victims of international terrorism.

Matthews, a partner at Colson Hicks Edison since l989, will be splitting his time between D.C. and South Florida. Prior to joining Colson Hicks Edison, he served as special counsel to U. S. Sen. Bob Graham in Washington.

Congressional Democrats outlined legislation Thursday aimed at undoing a recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and interest groups to spend freely on political advertising.

To accomplish that goal, the legislation would impose a patchwork of spending restrictions and disclosure requirements — many based in current laws.

The measure would greatly expand the scope of an existing ban on political commercials paid for by foreign corporations, ban political commercials paid for by government contractors or recipients of bailout money, and force corporations and unions to make public details of what they spend directly or through advocacy groups.

The legislation’s sponsors, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York and Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, said they wanted the measure enacted in time to limit the impact of the court’s decision in the case, Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, before the fall campaigns. “Otherwise the court will have predetermined the winner of the midterm elections,” Mr. Schumer said. “It won’t be the Republicans or the Democrats. It will be corporate America.”

Many of the proposals, like restrictions on foreign companies or government contractors, have populist appeal, but passage would require the vote of at least one Republican senator. Five current Republican senators — led at the time by Senator John McCain of Arizona — voted for the spending rules that the court chipped away, but not one has yet embraced the Democrats’ proposals.

The sponsors said they had developed the legislation to comply with the court’s opinion in Citizens United.

A grand jury has indicted a Salisbury woman for embezzling more than $140,000 from a local attorney.

The Rowan County grand jury meeting Monday indicted Kimberly "Kim" Osborne on the charge of felony embezzlement.

The indictment charges that she took $142,414 from James T. Oxendine between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2008.

She was an employee of Oxendine's during that time.

Osborne was at the time married to Terry Osborne, currently manager of the Rowan-Kannapolis ABC system.

Kim Osborne previously worked for the Clerk of Court's office when Terry Osborne was Rowan County Clerk of Superior Court.

Terry Osborne petitioned for a divorce, which was granted in August 2009.

Salisbury Police investigated the case, with assistance from the SBI.

Lawyers with nearly two dozen firms around the country hope to consolidate their claims that Toyota Motor Corp.'s recalls have cost customers billions of dollars.

P. Tim Howard, a Northeastern University law professor leading the group seeking class-action status for numerous existing lawsuits, said Wednesday that the more than 8 million vehicles recalled by Toyota have collectively lost more than $2 billion in resale value because of the recalls.

Kelley Blue Book and other automotive guides have warned that the recalls begun in November are eroding the value of Toyotas. The car appraisal guide estimated Wednesday that the resale value of recalled cars and trucks will fall another 1.5 percent. That's on top of a drop of 1 percent to 3 percent Blue Book analysts forecast last week.

Howard, who litigated against tobacco companies in the 1990s, also said he will seek damages for Toyota drivers who have decided not to use their recalled vehicles, although the value is more difficult to determine.

When his corruption trial begins in June, Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, wants jurors to be allowed to hear all of the audio recordings — some 500 hours’ worth — that federal authorities secretly made of his telephone conversations.

In papers filed here on Wednesday, Mr. Blagojevich asked Judge James B. Zagel of Federal District Court to allow far more than just snippets of the calls, some of which have been made public.

“Play all the tapes,” Mr. Blagojevich told reporters after a hearing. He said that he planned to testify at his trial, and that all the tapes — not just parts — would provide the full picture and prove his innocence. “Play the truth, and play the whole truth,” he said.

A lawyer for Mr. Blagojevich, Sam Adam Jr., said jurors did not necessarily have to hear all of the tapes, which were made in Mr. Blagojevich’s home and campaign offices and on cellphones in the three months leading up his arrest in December 2008 on bribery, racketeering and a host of other charges.

But, Mr. Adam said, the defense team does want to play any parts that are related to the charges against Mr. Blagojevich or that give context to any of his statements on the tapes.

That prospect, political analysts here said, was likely to cause queasiness for Illinois politicians, some of whom are thought to be heard on those audio recordings and might have hoped their comments would never become public. In a year when the state is electing a new governor and a United States senator, such an open airing of hundreds of hours of tapes — even for those who did nothing criminal — might be especially awkward.