Linchpin GM switch case bumped back to state court
The case that exposed General Motors' foot-dragging on fatally flawed ignition switches, triggering millions of other GM recalls, federal fines, Congressional investigations and and still-unsettled government probes, got bounced back to state court.
GM wanted the matter handled in federal court.
Federal judge Thomas Thrash Jr. ruled in Atlanta on Friday that the Brooke Melton wrongful death lawsuit against GM should be handled by a Cobb County, Ga., judge.
Melton's parents were preparing a suit previously, then settled with GM for $5 million late last year. That was before GM acknowledged it erred in not recalling several million 2003-2011 small cars, including the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt in which Melton was killed in a 2010 crash.
After GM said it should have acted sooner to replace the deadly switches, Melton's parents went back to court.
Brooke Melton died on her 29th birthday when the Cobalt's ignition switch slipped out of "run," shutting off the power assist to the car's steering and brakes as she drove. Her parents' attorney, Lance Cooper, says that's why she lost control.
Her wreck wasn't a front-end crash like those that are linked to 13 other deaths and forced GM to recognize a that the faulty switches can disable the airbags.
Nevertheless, depositions collected by Cooper in 2013 before the settlement showed GM knew of the problem years before its February 2014 recall of the small cars. Two engineers he deposed have been fired by GM, among 15 people axed for their roles in the switch debacle.
Cooper also was able to obtain the "black box" data from Melton's car, proving the switch malfunctioned.
GM eventually recalled 2.6 million of the small cars worldwide. It has set up a victims compensation fund administered by outside expert Kenneth Feinberg, which he and GM both say has no limit. Feinberg has sole authority to choose who to compensate, and how much to pay them.
The Meltons could apply to the fund, but the amount GM already has paid them would be subtracted from any amount Feinberg was willing to award, based on their daughter's age, pay, likely lifetime earnings and other circumstances.
A number of examples he gave June 30 when he disclosed details of the fund were amounts less than $5 million.
GM so far this year has recalled 23.5 million cars and trucks in the U.S. in addition to the February and March small-car ignition switch recalls. It is scrambling to clean house on safety issues and avoid reprising the ignition switch situation.