The Federal Justice decided Wednesday, April 15th to give the certificate of most deaths, accidents and incidents related to the defective ignition switches to one of the biggest US vehicle manufacturer, General Motors (GM), before its bankruptcy in 2009. The issue was with the ignition switches installed on several of the models of vehicles.
This is a victory for the group of Mary Barra, as some analysts suggested a sum of compensation of up to $10 billion. Indeed, more than a hundred collective class actions in this context had been filed against GM across the country.
This mechanical defect had varying results in certain circumstances, and during contact with another vehicle, there would be something (or a lack of something) that would prevent the airbag deployment is linked to 84 deaths and led the automotive group later recalled 2.6 million vehicles last year.
The honorable judge, Robert Gerber, ruled Wednesday that the most queries against the group in Detroit would not be admissible except those that will rely in any way on the acts or conduct of what’s being referred to as the “Old GM,” or the company before its restructuring.
Judge Gerber then concluded that the complaints based on the actions of the Old GM are rejected, and welcomed the group in an email to AFP that this decision does not establish liability against GM. The opposite then occurred when a waterfall of complaints came. The US automotive group was first seized in April, 2014. Judge Gerber, who supervised the restructuring, was asked from the beginning to determine what legal obligations would be inherited by the new group once restructured.
The group argued that the restructuring planned to clear up the bankruptcy and it was to be made clear that the legal responsibilities related to the ignition switch problem were not to be transmitted to the new GM, and that they therefore could not be sued for it. GM assured they will legally protect themselves from compensation claims from customers who have not undergone any problems with the switch. In this context, they also wanted the court to determine whether the various complaints against them across the US were admissible.
The automakers are still under investigation by the Justice Department and they’ve set up a compensation fund with already concluded agreements with the victims’ families.