A number of plaintiffs attorneys, hoping to jumpstart lawsuits over General Motors Co.’s ignition switch recalls, are challenging a court order that prevents them from pursuing their claims, the National Law Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber has temporarily halted proceedings in consumer lawsuits filed over GM’s ignition-switch defect, which prompted recalls of 2.6 million vehicles this year. Plaintiffs lawyers in three cases, hoping to escape Judge Gerber’s stay order, assert that their claims aren’t subject to decisions in GM’s bankruptcy. So far, their challenges have been unsuccessful. “GM’s strategy in the bankruptcy court has closed the door to every court in America,” said Gary Peller, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, one of the lawyers challenging the stay order. “This is a real abuse of the legal process.” GM, represented by Arthur Steinberg, a partner at King & Spalding in New York, alleges the claims are subject to the bankruptcy proceeding because they involve cars, trucks or automobile parts made before 2009, when the company filed for chapter 11 protection.
