A Texas lawyer accused General Motors Co. of conspiring with an outside law firm to cover up faulty ignition switches in millions of vehicles, rendering their communications subject to disclosure in ongoing litigation over the safety defect, the Wall Street Journal reported today. According to court documents filed by Bob Hilliard, a lawyer suing the Detroit automaker in a federal court in New York, GM and law firm King & Spalding LLP committed a “crime-fraud” that exempts certain emails and other communications from attorney-client privilege legal protections. Hilliard was appointed by a federal judge to be the lead lawyer for personal injury and wrongful death cases as part of what’s known as multidistrict litigation arising from GM’s defective switch. Hilliard, citing court cases, said in his legal brief that secrecy between lawyers and clients shouldn’t extend to communications made for the purpose of getting advice for the commission of a crime or fraud. “The plaintiffs’ motion is largely a rehash of issues discussed publicly over a year ago and previously reported in the media,” a GM spokesman said. “Moreover, GM already has produced to plaintiffs substantial amounts of privileged material, including many of the very communications sought in their current motion.”
