At least nine of the 13 deaths tied to General Motors ignition switch recall occurred before the company exited bankruptcy in July 2009, precluding survivors from filing lawsuits, according to documents released on Friday by a congressional committee’s staff, the Detroit Free Press reported on Saturday. The most recent fatality involving the 2003 through 2007 Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions occurred last June in Quebec. There are two fatal accidents involving 2004 Ions in a database with identities of the victims and dates undetermined. Under terms of their government-supported bankruptcies, the court and the Obama auto task force granted GM and Chrysler immunity from product liability and wrongful death lawsuits arising from accidents occurring before they came out of bankruptcy. CEO Mary Barra told Congress that GM has hired Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer who oversaw compensation of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to consider "options" in the automaker's response to its ignition-switch defect crisis.
