Personal Injury Law

Treasury negotiating on GM's product liability.

By Wayne Parsons

The Wall Street Journal (6/26, B1, Spector, McCracken) reports on the front page of its Marketplace section, "The U.S. Treasury Department is negotiating with more than a dozen state attorneys general to roll back two key features of General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy plan that would have wiped out billions of dollars in potential claims from car-accident victims and closed auto dealers." Under the current reorganization plan, "hundreds of car-accident victims have lawsuits against GM in various stages of the legal process that would be effectively washed away." In opposing GM's product-liability plan, "state attorneys general are raising a number of complex legal issues, ranging from the power of federal bankruptcy courts to supercede state law to constitutional due-process rights of Americans to sue GM if they're injured by the auto maker's vehicles in the months and years ahead."

In an informative analysis of the impact of this bailout on people injured in defective automobiles Cecelia Prewett of the American Association of Justice (AAJ) sheds light on this judicial and Congressional problem:

Protecting Consumers in Wake of Chrysler / GM Bankruptcy

GM wins financing, "tort czar" denied. The Detroit Free Press (6/25, Hyde) reported, "General Motors won approval Thursday to use up to $33.3 billion to pay for its bankruptcy, after making a few changes to settle technical objections." US Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber also "denied a request from an unofficial committee of people with asbestos-related claims against GM to appoint a 'tort czar' that would oversee all future claims against the old GM, not just those related to asbestos."

The Detroit News (6/26, Gardiner) reports that consumer victims and asbestos claimants "withdrew petitions for their own independent bargaining committees on Thursday."

Comcast pulls liability ads. The Washington Post (6/26, Marr, Tse) reports, "Comcast pulled a cable television advertisement criticizing General Motors' bankruptcy plan earlier this week after the automaker challenged the spot's claims. The ad was paid for by a group of people injured in GM and Chrysler vehicles, who say the taxpayer-funded restructurings should not allow the automakers to escape liability claims for injuries or deaths that occurred before the bankruptcy filings."

Full post as published by Honolulu Personal Injury Lawyer on June 26, 2009 (boomark / email).