Yay! Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Block Ignition Switch Suits

Recall that Hundreds of death and injury cases have been frozen in place for years as GM wrongly tried to hide behind a fake bankruptcy, Now, GM can hide no more. The case involved a faulty ignition switch in GM vehicles linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries. The switch could slip out of place, causing engine stalls while driving and cutting power to critical brakes, steering and air bag systems.



The defect prompted Detroit-based GM to begin recalling 2.6 million vehicles in 2014. It has already paid roughly $2.5 billion in criminal and civil penalties and settlements and legal fees in connection with the switch. The company previously acknowledged that some of its employees knew about the switch defect for years before a recall was initiated.

In 2015, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled that GM was shielded from liability over its pre-bankruptcy actions. The 2nd Circuit reversed that ruling. Since the plaintiffs were not properly notified of the defect or bankruptcy filing, barring them from suing GM would violate their constitutional rights to due process, the court found.


General Motors Co’s (GM.N) bid to block hundreds of lawsuits, potentially worth billions of dollars, over a deadly ignition-switch defect broke down on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal claiming the suits were barred by the No. 1 American automaker’s 2009 bankruptcy.
The justices declined to review a 2016 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected GM’s bid to block customer lawsuits related to crashes and diminished vehicle value because the plaintiffs had not been properly notified of the defect prior to the bankruptcy filing.

source: THE WILL