Personal Injury Law

Obama Gives Auto Defect Plaintiffs the Cold Shoulder in GM and Chrysler Bankruptcies

By Ross Jurewitz

It appears from this ABC News story that Obama will not allow any reasonable and rational consideration stand in the way of nationalizing GM and Chrysler through bankruptcy--a deal that appears only to benefit the auto worker unions.

In the latest move, apparently supported by the Obama Department of Justice, the bankruptcy court issued an order that allowed the "Old" GM to sell all assets to the "New" government- and union-owned GM, while leaving all liabilities--including claims by hundreds of people allegedly injured by defective vehicles--with the "Old" GM. Unfortunately, since all assets had been stripped from the "Old" GM, there most likely will be little if any money to pay these injured plaintiffs.

These plaintiffs are just the most recent group to have their legal rights taken from them during the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. Most notably, several retirement funds--including teachers' pension funds--had their equity stake in these companies decrease to nearly 10% of their original investment.

In the case of the GM auto defect plaintiffs, they have effectively lost their day in court to have a jury determine if their loved one's death or their serious injury was caused by GM's faulty design or construction. Even if a jury finds in their favor now, it is but a hollow victory since there is no money to compensate these victims for their losses.

The deal for the Chrysler plaintiffs is even worse. Based upon the bankruptcy court's order, any plaintiff who bought their Chrysler car before the June Order cannot sue Chrysler for injuries caused by an auto defect--even if the injury occurred after the Order was issued.

The Obama administration's decision to throw injured victims under the bus in the name of protecting these failing behemoths to escape their responsibilities is despicable. Considering that Obama ran on a platform of "Hope and Change" that would look out for people and not the corporations shirking their responsibilities, every American should be extremely upset. Not only is it hypocritical but it puts profits over people.

Look next for Obama to create national medical malpractice caps, artificially protecting negligent doctors from having to take full responsibility for their errors, in order to pass his Health Care Reform bill.

Full post as published by San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).