Court Rules That New GM Can Not Be Held Responsible For Older Ignition Switch Injuries

General Motors will not have to face dozens of lawsuits accusing it of concealing an ignition-switch defect that has been blamed for more than 200 deaths and serious injuries, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled Wednesday.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuits said the company violated their constitutional rights by failing to disclose the defect, while GM had argued it was protected from claims on vehicles pre-dating its 2009 exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber means GM may avoid potentially billions of dollars in liability, as well as the cost of defending those lawsuits, although claims arising after its bankruptcy will not be affected.

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TheSteve - 4/16/2015 10:36:37 AM

+1 Boost

Sadly, our money will be channeled to GM whether we like it or not, either through our voluntary purchase of a GM vehicle, or by bailing them out and sending us, the taxpayers, the bill :-(

TheSteve - 4/16/2015 10:33:27 AM

+1 Boost

Yet another advantage of being a giga-corporation:

- When you have a history of bad decisions and running a company badly, instead of going bankrupt, like others do, the government will borrow billions of dollars to throw at you, and send the bill to taxpayers.

- A "limited" corporation means the execs are rarely, if ever, held accountable.

- When you "restructure" under creditor protection proceedings (i.e., not quite bankrupt, but close), you not only wipe away your old debts (or transfers them to taxpayers), but you can also erase past responsibilities (e.g., the consequences of your historic bad decisions; shoddily made products whose warranties you no longer have to honor; people who died because of your products, but you don't have to compensate then).

This is the world we've created for ourselves, in the land of the "free", where there are more lawyers per capita than anywhere else on the planet, and the laws favor the ultra-rich.

skytop - 4/16/2015 10:47:08 PM

+1 Boost

GM means GREAT MISTAKE