02/01/2018

GM throws doubt on ignition switch ruling

Reuters reports that General Motors Co has won a court ruling that could reduce the private litigation it faces over flawed vehicle ignition switches, which have been linked to 124 deaths and triggered a big recall.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said the plaintiffs in two bellwether cases, we unable to introduce 'unreliable' expert testimony to explain how the ignition switches could have caused the crashes.

The plaintiffs said their GM ignition switches caused the accidents by rotating from 'run' at the moment of impact to 'accessory' or 'off,' and then back to "run" before the airbags deployed.

But Judge Furman, who oversees multi-district litigation ('MDL') over the ignition switches, including 213 cases where airbags deployed, said that there was no evidence to show that this could have happened.

'The court recognises that these conclusions may have a significant impact on a swath of cases now pending in the MDL and, thus, does not reach them lightly,' the judge wrote.

David Caldwell, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM, said the decision 'reinforces our approach to contest cases that lack merit, while being open to fair resolution of cases that have more merit according to the facts and the law.'

GM has paid more than $2.6bn in penalties and settlements, including $900m to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal case, over ignition switches that could cause engines to stall and prevent airbags from deploying.

GM has recalled more than 2.6 million vehicles over the defect since February 2014.