General Motors is making a final effort to have the United States Supreme Court overturn its ignition switch claims ruling, according to a new report from Reuters. The ruling meant GM’s bankruptcy and restructuring would not shield the automaker from lawsuits involving the faulty ignition switch.
With this request, GM is attempting to block hundreds of lawsuits over faulty ignition switch parts. GM first claimed it would not be responsible because it emerged as a new corporate entity following its bankruptcy, and “Old GM” would be responsible, not “New GM”.
The petition once again states, per federal bankruptcy code, “a purchaser, in this case, a newly formed company, to obtain a debtor’s rapidly deteriorating assets and be ‘free and clear’ of its liabilities.”
“In short, this case presents exceptionally important questions, and the Second Circuit’s answers were exceptionally wrong,” GM’s lawyers said in the petition. “The Court should grant review.”
New GM was created to house the automaker’s most valuable assets, while Old GM buries most of the automaker’s liabilities in the past. General Motors has already paid out roughly $2 billion in criminal and civil penalty fines, plus settlements with those affected by the ignition switch recall.
Comment
If GM wants to change the terms of its bankruptcy and shed its responsibility, then maybe GM should also change the provisions of its bankruptcy that allowed it to shed its debts but also allowed it to carry over its losses so that they can use those losses to reduce their federal income tax. I believe that GM has paid ZERO federal income tax since their exit from bankruptcy.