Personal Injury Lawyers > Personal Injury Blog > Products Liability > GM Concede on Product Liability Question (Somewhat)

Personal Injury Blog

GM Concede on Product Liability Question (Somewhat)

After a national outcry against the shedding of liability for its vehicles by the “new GM,” the company has now reached a deal with the Obama administration to assume some liability for its vehicles.

Under the new terms, the automaker will now assume responsibility for injuries resulting from accidents that occur after the company’s bankruptcy proceedings have gone through. What that means is that consumers who suffer injuries from driving GM cars after June 1st will be able to sue the company. The automaker will also take on injury claims that relate to car accidents that occurred while the company was in bankruptcy court.

Earlier, the company in its bankruptcy terms had shed past and future liability for all vehicles manufactured by the company, as part of terms that would see the company sell off its assets to the new company that would evolve from the bankruptcy. That had sparked outrage from consumer safety advocates, product liability lawyers as well as state attorneys general, who had stringently voiced their opposition to those plans. The abandonment of all liability by the new company for defects in vehicles manufactured by the older pre-bankruptcy automaker would place consumers at a loss for their rights to sue for injuries or casualties. The debate raged for weeks and the automaker has now decided to assume liability in order to avoid a delay of the company’s restructuring.

However, persons who have pending product liability claims against GM as well as those who had won damages against the company before it filed for bankruptcy, would be left out of the new terms. These people will not be able to bring claims against the new GM. As we had discussed earlier, these creditors would still remain at the bottom of the heap along with the other unsecured creditors of the company. Claims that arise from GM’s dealership closures also will be left behind under the bankruptcy terms. State attorneys general and consumer advocates are trying to get the automaker to assume liability for pending product liability lawsuits as well as claims that had already been awarded damages before the company filed for bankruptcy. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, it doesn’t appear that the automaker will go that far. These people include several persons that have been severely injured because of vehicular defects in GM’s automobiles.

Over the past few weeks, we have covered GM’s bankruptcy and how it would affect product liability claims and lawsuits several times. These new terms and conditions that the automaker has agreed to are not completely what product liability attorneys have called for, but they are an improvement over the complete lack of liability that the company had enjoyed thus far. Last week, a report by an auto safety group made it clear how many persons would be left out of injury claims after the bankruptcy went though. According to the report that made use of claims data over a five-year period, there would be an average of 3,400 personal injury and wrongful death claims each year.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of product liability. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

---