GM Key Ignition Recall: GM’s Legal Team Targeted for Policies

On Thursday, July 17th, Congressional lawmakers demanded that GM’s legal team, which oversaw specifics for compensation to victims of the GM key ignition recall defect that led to a massive key ignition recall, open up the criteria for compensation.

Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, who chairs the senate subcommittee investigating the massive General Motors vehicle recall and ignition switch problems, praised GM CEO Mary Barra for her “courage and conviction,” but said that the company’s lead corporate counsel, Michael Milliken, should be fired based on an internal report’s conclusions.

The internal investigation suggested that Milliken and other legal staff at GM acted too slowly to share details of settlements, and failed to inform engineers or top executives about the number of complaints coming in regarding the ignition switch failures.

“How in the world, in the aftermath of this report, did Michael Milliken keep his job?” McCaskill asked.

For his testimony, Milliken insisted that he didn’t know about the ignition switch vehicle recall problems until February, when the problem was visibly spinning out of control, and once he knew about the legal issue, he acted quickly.

“We had lawyers at GM who didn’t do their jobs, didn’t do what was expected of them. Those lawyers are no longer with the company,” Milliken said.

In addition to the accusations against GM’s corporate legal team, Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, asked of attorney Kenneth Feinberg’s compensation plan could be expanded. The compensation plan did not limit the amount of money the company would pay victims of the faulty ignition switches and delayed vehicle recall, but the victims had to prove that the ignition switch was to blame for their crash. Additionally, the compensation plan would only accept claims between August 1st and December 31st of this year.

Feinberg said only that the cars included in the vehicle recall compensation plan were not determined by him or his legal team.

GM Vehicle Recall Class Action Transferred to MDL

While the Senate subcommittee hearing continues, the class action against General Motors for their delayed vehicle recall has been consolidated into one multidistrict litigation (MDL).

More than 40 personal injury lawsuits have been brought forward, alleging that the company’s lax policies toward the ignition switch problem led directly to their injury or a loved one’s death.

“The parties have suggested a number of able transferee districts and judges,” the order states. “We have settled upon the Southern District of New York as the most appropriate choice. The Southern District of New York is the site of the bankruptcies of both General Motors and Delphi.”

The Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court will determine if GM violated its bankruptcy agreement in 2009, and if the plaintiffs’ GM key ignition recall defect lawsuits can proceed based on the bankruptcy proceedings.

“The common questions of fact and law between the pending overlapping proposed class actions, the efficiencies to be gained through centralized discovery and motion practice and the alleviation of the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings all favor centralization of these related cases concerning the alleged ignition switch defect…” the motion stated.

Each of the defective vehicles contains a “uniformly designed ignition switch, which is substantially similar for all of the defective vehicles,” according to the suit.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with Defective Products and Vehicle Recall Cases

If you have experienced a problem with a defective product in your automobile, especially if a defective part has led to an auto accident or personal injury, and a proper vehicle recall notice has not been issued, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help. We can help you with complicated auto insurance claims, and make sure you receive the compensation you deserve to help you with lost income and medical bills. Our attorneys are licensed to practice in South Carolina, Georgia, and New York. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case. Contact us today at (803) 252-4800.