The General Motors saga continues.  We shake our heads at our beloved American automaker, who is now repaying that government bailout with criminal and civil settlements and class action lawsuits.  

This time it’s a $900-million criminal settlement with the US government over their ignition switch problems leading to a massive recall last year.  To top it off, they’ve also settled for another $575-million for civil resolutions in two other court cases. 

To avoid lengthy and expensive litigation, General Motors settled a class-action lawsuit against them by shareholders in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.  They then went on to settle a second lawsuit covering 1,380 death and personal injury claims, which is only over half of the amount of people suing them with cases pending in the district of New York.   Hopefully justice prevails for the people who have lost loved ones or have been injured due to the behavior of this company and that the government has not halted necessary investigations due to settlement that will result in future issues with failure to report issues and automotive recalls to the public.  

You know it’s bad when a company has to set up it’s own facility, GM Ignition Compensation Claims Resolution Facility to offer settlements and handle claims based on the deaths and injury count of their negligence.   Over the 4,343 reports, they found that 124 deaths, 17 catastrophic injuries, and 258 more minor, yet serious incidents were linked to the faulty parts.  

GM, we hope you’ve finally learned your lesson and that you do your part to ensure the safety of the public from this point on.

GM Announces Resolution of Certain Civil Litigation
2015-09-17

DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today it has settled certain civil actions against the company related to 2014 product recalls, including the ignition switch recall.

The first settlement resolves a shareholder class action filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In addition, the company has reached a memorandum of understanding potentially covering approximately 1,380 individual death and personal injury claimants. They include more than half of the personal injury plaintiffs who have lawsuits pending in the Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"The parties to these agreements have resolved difficult claims without the burden, expense and uncertainty of litigation," said Craig Glidden, GM executive vice president and general counsel.

As a result of these settlements, the company will record a charge of $575 million in the third quarter.

News Source: Reuters, GM, US Department of Justice