A judge has decided to reduce some of the claims made in General Motors‘ racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in an effort to simplify the case for the jury.
According to Automotive News, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman has reduced the amount of claims the court will hear in the racketeering suit from five to just three. The claims that have been pushed aside, which relate to unfair competition and civil conspiracy, are state law claims and do not relate directly to the main complaints in the racketeering case, which was filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne
Borman said that hearing the two state law claims in addition to the racketeering claims would “create insurmountable, confusing and prejudicial spillover-evidence issues and also create jury confusion that instructions could not cure.”
GM was quick to point out that this development does not mean its claims are without merit.
“These claims were not dismissed,” GM spokesman Jim Cain told AN. “In its ruling, the Court states that the majority of GM’s allegations and claims against FCA and the other Defendants are made under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Court exercised jurisdiction over these RICO claims.”
The automaker is suing FCA over claims that it bribed UAW officials in order to get favorable treatment during contract negotiations with the union. GM also claims that former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, who passed away in 2018, did this with the specific intent of weakening GM financially and forcing it to enter a merger with the Italian-American automaker. The FBI is currently investigating the UAW over widespread corruption and three former FCA execs have already pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation.
FCA remains adamant that GM’s case is baseless and said it will “continue to defend itself vigorously and pursue all available remedies,” in response to the lawsuit.
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Comments
Cadillacs are my favorite cars a,d the first one i ever owned but the way gm and cadillac has treated me in the last month in a half and how i was downgraded like my worth is nothing and made me the victim out to defend myself against the corporate giants are selfish and uncaring of the havoc and horror they have made in peoples lives due to negligence that almost cost me my life makes me furious and has changed my outlook on life but i will say i always have the good lord as my savior and he lives within me and i forgive you for your mistake but never can i forget
I’ve noticed a lot of activity on a portion of the abandoned part of the g m plant #9 the last few days . This is part of the complex that the federal government required gm to reactivate the “clean room semi conductor lab for ventilator manufacturing.is there a repurpose for this factory?