The legal saga involving General Motors is something that this firm has already touched upon on our blog when it comes to possible liability claims for wrongful death in connection with allegedly defective vehicles that GM manufactured. The manufacturer has already admitted that more than a dozen deaths occurred as a result of those defects.
Now, a Texas woman is seeking to open a new legal action against GM based on the same vehicle defects, but this time by resurrecting a lawsuit from the past.
The lawsuit in question dates back to 2004, when the woman was involved in multi-faceted litigation in which she was the defendant in a criminal case and the plaintiff in a lawsuit against GM. Both actions arose out of a fatal car accident in which she was the driver of a Saturn Ion, and in which her passenger – who was also her fiancé – died.
The net result of those cases was that the woman, who had taken an anti-anxiety drug the day before and still had trace amounts in her system, pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of negligent homicide. The lawsuit against GM was settled for $75,000.
But based on revelations that GM apparently knew about and concealed the existence of defective ignitions, she is seeking to re-open her lawsuit against the company. Key to her strategy is her recent awareness that the loss of her fiancé was one of the deaths related to the defective parts that GM has acknowledged.
As with many others who settled their cases against GM before the recent knowledge of the defects became public, the woman is now seeking justice beyond the inadequate settlement. If she is successful, she may join others who set a precedent against GM to avenge a tragedy that the company may have thought was a thing of the past.
Source: KDFW, “Fiancée of man killed in Canton fights to reopen lawsuit against GM,” Natalie Solis, June 11, 2014
