GM Death Toll Races To Triple Digits - 80 To Date - Should Criminal Charges Follow?

General Motors Co.’s ignition switch compensation fund on Monday said it has approved three additional death claims linked to its delayed recall of 2.6 million cars, raising the latest total to 80 deaths.

The fund also said it approved 7 new injury claims. Of the 148 injury claims approved so far, 11 are for the most serious injuries and 130 are for less severe injuries. All of the new approvals were for less serious injuries.

The fund’s deputy administrator, Camille Biros, said last month the fund has extended 119 offers; 93 have been accepted and five have been rejected. Biros said 61 payments have been made or are in the process of being made. If a person or victim’s family accepts an award, the right to sue GM is forfeited.

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TheSteve - 4/6/2015 2:13:58 PM

+1 Boost

According to the information that's been made public (and assuming it's accurate and factual), GM execs knew of these issues, and they knew how serious they were (potentially life-threatening), and they were aware of actual incidents that had occurred as a result of these issues, and yet they chose to sweep it under the rug and hope nobody would notice. That sounds to me like criminal negligence. I don't know what applicable laws actually say, though.

Vette71 - 4/6/2015 2:57:38 PM

+1 Boost

That is a lot to prove in a court of law. Each "IF" has to be proven beyond a doubt.

TomM - 4/6/2015 7:47:53 PM

+3 Boost

We do not even know the circumstances of the death claims to make an opinion. At this point - it is possible that they are paying simply to avoid a court case where they might lose even if the switch did not cause the death itself. But indeed - it would be hard to prove who would be criminally liable - and then you still have the case of the Bankrupcy to deal with.

Still - Many times this number - over 12,000 people are killed in accidents where excessive speed contributed. Certainly a case could be made that the makers of these cars KNEW they could travel at high speeds - and also knew that they had the means to limit how fast the car could go too - so should manufacturers be liable for those deaths too?