General Motors has so far agreed a compensation payout to families of 19 people killed in its cars in crashes related to faulty ignition switches.
The automaker has received 125 claims of fatalities in the first batch of applications to the victims’ compensation fund.
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According to Bloomberg News, Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer GM recruited to decide which claims are valid, said families in 19 of those 125 cases would get a payout while the remaining cases are still being vetted.
GM has so far said only 13 fatalities were connected to the defective switches. The switches can be accidentally knocked, shutting off engine, power steering, power brakes and airbags..
“GM was asking its engineers can you definitively say ignition switch defects caused the accident,” Feinberg said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Our standard, as you know, is much more liberal. It’s easier to apply. It’s a legal standard, was the ignition switch the proximate cause, a substantial likelihood as the cause of the accident.”
Feinberg reportedly said he expects the number of fatalities to increase as more claims come in, though he wouldn’t give an estimate as to how high. He also declined to speculate how much GM could pay out. The automaker in July said it was setting aside $400m to $600m to pay victims.
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By GlobalData“We’re just now beginning to make the dollar calculations,” Feinberg said. “We’ll see whether claimant, the victim, or his or her family will accept the money. It’s a little early to be putting dollar signs next to eligible claimants. We’ll know more about that in the next four to six weeks.”
GM will abide by whatever determinations Feinberg makes, Dave Roman, a spokesman for the automaker, told Bloomberg.
“Ken Feinberg and his team will independently determine the final number of eligible individuals,” Roman said. “What is most important is that we are doing the right thing for those who lost loved ones and for those who suffered physical injury.”
Bloomberg said 445 claims to the compensation fund had been made so far, including 58 involving serious injury and 262 involving hospitalisation. Twelve of those injury claims have been ruled valid.
Feinberg told Bloomberg GM’s official tally only includes the drivers but the compensation fund uses a broader legal definition that makes more people eligible for payment, including the occupants of other vehicles and pedestrians if they were struck by a car with a faulty ignition switch.
