(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. settled a lawsuit over the death of a 29-year-old woman that helped trigger the recall of 2.59 million cars with faulty ignition switches.
GM is the target of investigations by state and federal agencies related to the ignition faults. The defect resulted in 64 deaths and 108 other injury claims eligible for compensation, according to Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the automaker’s fund created to pay victims. Another 156 death claims are under review, according to the fund.
Anton Valukas, a lawyer paid by GM, reported last year that the company failed for at least a decade to promptly resolve complaints from consumers, dealers and others about abnormal crashes in the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ion. Valukas also reported that GM later replaced the faulty ignition switch without alerting the public or changing the part number as required.
Brooke Melton, 29, died in a March 2010 crash when the ignition switch in her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt failed, causing her to lose control of the car. Her parents settled an initial lawsuit for $5 million, then asked GM to rescind the agreement and filed a second lawsuit last year alleging the automaker concealed the defects in the Cobalt and withheld evidence before the accord was reached.
Tackle a giant
“The fact that Mr. and Mrs. Melton would be willing to take on a corporate giant and end up being directly responsible for alerting both the government and the public to a massive cover-up by General Motors is one of the most courageous things that I’ve experienced in my career as a lawyer,” Jere Beasley, one of the parents’ attorneys, said in a statement.
The new lawsuit was pending in state court in Georgia, split off from multiple claims consolidated before a federal judge in New York. The settlement terms are confidential, Beasley said.
Jim Cain, a GM spokesman, confirmed the settlement and declined to comment further.
The Meltons settled the new suit because they had accomplished their goals of bringing the ignition-switch defect and GM’s cover-up to light, Cooper said.
“They wanted to hold GM accountable,” said Lance Cooper, another of the Melton’s lawyers.
The case is Melton v. General Motors LLC, 14A-1197-4, State Court, Cobb County, Georgia (Marietta).
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