GM Begins Ignition Lawsuit Talks, US Bankruptcy Court Press For Settlement
Automotive News reports General Motors’ attorney Kenneth Feinberg met with Texas attorney Robert Hilliard at the former’s office within the Beltway to begin preliminary discussions over the claims of the latter’s 300-plus clients affected by the ignition switch recall. During the talk, no agreements were reached regarding compensation, while Hilliard viewing the first meeting as GM’s way of convincing him that it would do “the right thing” by his clients. Feinberg states he is gathering proposals for a compensation program similar to the one he orchestrated for 9/11 victims and victims of other major disasters, and should have a package ready within the next few weeks at the latest.
Meanwhile, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber urged GM to settle with plaintiffs seeking compensation from the recall, proclaiming:
Frankly, it would be great if whatever money is available for injured people could go to them, and not to litigation costs and attorneys’ fees.
The viewpoint held by Gerber comes from his partial reading of 3,500 pages related to claims filed in the 10 days prior to his pronouncement. Currently, 59 lawsuits with a price tag of $10 billion in damages have been levied against the automaker, with one group refraining from suing at the automaker’s request until the judge validates their complaints sometime before the end of July. In the meantime, a separate hearing May 29 will devise a strategy to centralize the suits before GM; Gerber said he would stay out of the way for the hearing.
In other news, GM is holding back on huge dealer orders for its large SUVs and pickups due to over two dozen supply constraints regarding V8 engines, four-wheel drive systems and other components, affecting availability for the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2015 Suburban and Tahoe. The constraints are frustrating for dealers in light of the popularity of the vehicles, with the automaker urging creativity to get around the supply issues, which could take as long as four weeks to resolve. Despite this, transaction prices of GM’s newly redesigned offerings netted $700 million in pretax profit for Q1 2014, while the Silverado/Sierra twins delivered a 37.7 percent haul of overall sales of all pickups sold for $40,000 and above in the same period.
Finally, CEO Mary Barra delivered the commencement speech at the University of Michigan over the weekend, as well as received an honorary degree in engineering. The university’s decision to invite Barra came under fire from two student groups, citing the recall crisis and the alleged dismissals of injured employees at a GM plant in Columbia as not representative of the university’s values behind their reasoning. As for Barra, though she did not directly bring up the recall in her speech — opting to speak about the future and all it will offer — she did offer these words of wisdom for the Class of 2014:
Remember that hope is not a strategy. Problems don’t go away when you ignore them — they tend to get bigger.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
More by Cameron Aubernon
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Varezhka Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Century, and I know it technically just ended production but Honda e.
- CoastieLenn For those that care to read the details of the crash NOT included in this article but published elsewhere- this happened at nearly 10pm when the CRV was stopped in the center lane of travel, lights off, with the driver remaining in the car. Not only is it not known if Blue Cruise was being used, it would have been a nightmare for most alert human drivers to mitigate that driving the 70+mph speed limit on many sections of I-10 in Texas, much less an AV system.
- Jeff This is what I would want: Toyota has now released an affordable truck called the Toyota IMV 0. The newly developed vehicle made in Thailand comes with a rear-wheel drive and a gasoline 2.0-liter inline-four matched to a 5-speed manual transmission. NEW $10,000 Toyota Pickup Has Ford & GM Crapping ... YouTube · Tech Machine 8 minutes, 46 seconds Dec 26, 2023
- Jalop1991 At the same time, let's take these drivers off the road--at least the ones that haven't yet taken themselves off the road.I can guarantee, at no point was this guy or any of the dead Tesla-stans actually driving the car. They were staring at their phones, because, HEY, SELF DRIVING!!
- 3-On-The-Tree To Maintenance Costs His best friend did the union meetings and he said that there wasn’t a lot of negotiating taking place between the union and state because they were happy with how the state was treating them. He said it seemed more like a formality having the union.
Comments
Join the conversation
Obama has proposed a $300M grant to bankrupt Detroit, why not a grant to ignition lawsuit plaintiffs?
A hasty settlement is in GM's interest, since nobody actually knows what happened yet. What about Delphi's role in this mess? If they settle soon, there will be a chorus of complaints crying 'coverup' and 'conspiracy', and they might be right. On the other hand, if GM's actions turn out to be completely defendable, what's the point of an expensive settlement? I'd rather see the truth come out - if that's possible - than see the truth silenced with quick money.