Following a court hearing in New York, plaintiffs are now able to request documents from General Motors related to accidents, injuries and lost vehicle value linked to ignition switches that allegedly occurred after GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.
A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered discovery to begin for some cases filed against GM in connection with its recall of millions of cars for a faulty ignition switch, Reuters reported.
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US district judge Jesse Furman, in the southern district of New York, said plaintiffs could begin requesting documents from the company related to accidents, injuries and lost vehicle value linked to the switch that allegedly occurred after GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.
GM has recalled almost 15m vehicles worldwide over potentially defective ignition switches and set up a programme, run by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, to compensate victims of crashes involving about 2.6m of those cars, mostly Cobalts, Ions and other small cars, sold mostly in North America and no longer in production.
The programme has so far identified 19 deaths linked to the defect, the news agency noted.
Owners have filed over 100 lawsuits against GM, claiming the recalls caused the value of their vehicles to plunge, and there have also been hundreds of claims on behalf of people injured or killed in accidents said to have been caused by the faulty switch.
Reuters noted GM had asked the court to delay discovery while the automaker waited for a ruling from a bankruptcy judge over whether some claims were blocked by the terms of its July 2009 sale order which the company said barred suits over pre-bankruptcy incidents.
The bankruptcy judge is not expected to rule until 2015.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers meanwhile said they should be allowed to move forward on the post-bankruptcy claims and that any delay would unnecessarily hold up the cases.
The judge ruled plaintiffs could proceed with discovery for the claims that would not be affected by the bankruptcy court’s order.
However, he said discovery should focus on requesting documents from the company. Most depositions should be deferred for now, and GM and plaintiffs’ lawyers should work out a “reasonable, but aggressive schedule” for handing over the material.
GM declined to comment but a lead lawyer for plaintiffs, Robert Hilliard, told Reuters he was pleased with the order which he said indicated “the court will insist this case move quickly and efficiently over the next few months”.
