The legal drama between General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) continues, with new evidence prompting GM to reinstate a lawsuit against FCA that was previously dismissed.
In a racketeering case filed last November, General Motors accused former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne of a bribery scheme with United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union leaders to gain unfair contract advantages, and eventually pressure GM into a merger. U.S. District Judge Paul Borman dismissed the case with prejudice last month. However, according to a recent report from Automotive News, new evidence has prompted GM to once again pursue its case against FCA.
“New facts about the direct harm FCA caused GM have come to light and they are detailed in our amended racketeering complaint,” General Motors said in a statement. “These new facts warrant amending the court’s prior judgement, so we are respectfully asking the court to reinstate the case.”
FCA responded with a statement of its own, saying, “As we have said from the date the original lawsuit was filed, it is meritless. The court agreed and dismissed GM’s complaint with prejudice. FCA will continue to defend itself vigorously and pursue all available remedies in response to GM’s attempts to resurrect this groundless lawsuit.”
The new amended complaint from General Motors accuses FCA of using a network of foreign bank accounts to funnel millions of dollars to pay off individuals gathering sensitive corporate information about GM and its labor strategy.
Those accused include Alphons Iacobelli, who joined GM in 2016 after resigning from FCA. GM says Iacobelli provided FCA with GM’s confidential labor strategy information. Iacobelli is currently serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act and filing a false tax return. However, the filing says that Iacobelli continued to protect FCA executives even after agreeing to cooperate with the criminal investigation.
Joe Ashton, who served as vice president of the UAW-GM department, is also named, with the filing accusing Ashton of sharing confidential information with the UAW and FCA.
Two former UAW presidents, including Dennis Williams and Ron Gettelfinger, are also named in the amended complaint.
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Comments
GM should quit while they are ahead. It’s making them look like a whiney child who didn’t get their own way.
A lot of down votes on this one, but I bet the general public would feel the same way about it.
It’s pretty believable though. I know when I hear “UAW” in an article, I assume next few words are going to have “scandal” or “criminal” in there somewhere.
Time to hang it up and move on. This will go nowhere.
I don’t think GM would rehash this again if there wasn’t something to it. Sounds a lot like what went on in the Trump campaign with Obama and company.
It’s kind of like a student failing a test and going to the teacher the next day asking to retake it because he studied last night. GM is just acting desperate and it makes them look pretty bad.
Actually, instead of suing FCA, sue the employee himself and make it harsh enough that no one else will want to leave one job to come to another job specifically for purposes of spying. Now, if there is written evidence of under the table payments by FCA to the man while he was working for GM, the non-competition agreements and and other contractual agreements that employees typically sign may be a sign that FCA did engage in unlawful conduct. Clearly, if the information trail moves from that employee to FCA and can be shown, then you can had conspiracy charges. But, and it is a big ask, the proof must be there in writing, recording or images or a combination of those proof methods. AF
GM forever wasting more money on pointless lawsuits and woke inclusion committees etc, how about Mary try to get back to making Cars that people want to buy. I’ve thought all along that the Hu,mer will never see the light off day and I still see no real evidence of it