But I guess that would’ve involved some press releases, so instead it’s swept under the rug here. Either way I knew the trial-sharks were going to get theirs, Donkeys wouldn’t have it any other way given that they are the trial-attorneys’ bitches.

That same dynamic will also cripple any health-care reform, because any REAL reform in that business involves reforming the malpractice-tort industrial complex. Not gonna happen with the Donks.

The government makes Al Capone look like an amateur.

Maybe they’ve already started. ‘Your idea of Buick just went boom’ (or something).

We stand behind our products! Did you or a loved one die in your Chrysler? Your probably out of luck. Buy GM! Drive GM! Die in a GM!

More accurate:

The committee said that Marchionne’s unwillingness to be as stupid as GM represented “an unaccepable double standard.”

I mean, didn’t Fiat get $2billion from GM a couple years ago?

Whatever you think of Fiat cars, they can negotiate a deal.

Why’d they even bother with C11 then?

Successor liability is fairly common even after bankruptcy, particular when the result is a “new” company that’s intended to be exactly like the “old” one, without liability. Here’s a discussion of Oregon law. California law is pretty similar.

People here occasionally bring up Studebaker as an example of how people who bought a car from an “old” manufacturer might be screwed. But there is someone who courts have repeatedly found to hold successor liability for Studebaker. McGraw-Edison.

If people who had an old GM or old Chrysler were like people with Studebakers, they would be able to sue someone for product liability, and it would be the “new” companies, the continuations.

1. Ford is on the hook for everything,

2. New GM is on the hook for the products it makes and for future accidents caused by Old GM defects, while

3. New Chrysler is only on the hook for the products it makes.

Brilliant.

BTW the law in Texas is that a non-manufacturing seller cannot be liable for products liability unless one of several exceptions are met. One of the exceptions is that the manufacturer is insolvent. We are already seeing Chrysler dealers being sued in products liability lawsuits based on this exception.

Not every state has such a law.

Even-handed justice, eh?

And I thought Osama didn’t want to run a car company? huh. If he keeps giving away stuff like this, they won’t have a chance. Dumb. Very dumb. But, hey the guy is a lawyer, so the result should not be a surprise.

— William Faulkner

Quick question – if Government Motors could leave its past and its liabilities, what would the proper discount be for a new ‘old GM’ car in the eyes of a potential car buyer?

“You’ll get nothing and like it!”

Funny you should mention that. From The Detroit News:

“[The Unsecured Creditors committee] comprising 15 groups owed billions by GM, was established June 3, two days after the automaker filed for bankruptcy. It is made up of officials from two bondholding trusts, unions for steel and autoworkers, an advertising firm, car dealerships, auto parts suppliers, a man with a pending asbestos case, two people with pending personal injury lawsuits against GM and the pension guarantor.

Two other organizations — consumer victims and asbestos claimants — withdrew petitions for their own independent bargaining committees on Thursday and on Tuesday Gerber denied a similar motion made by small GM bondholders, leaving the Committee of Unsecured Creditors as the sole bargaining group in the case.”

Maybe the asbestos folks are next? Just need enough AGs to get in the game and you too can win a seat at the New GM trough.

Meet the new GM trough, same as the old GM trough! (except now the trough is MUCH deeper and longer thanks to Uncle Sam)