General Motors yesterday said that it had settled a wrongful death case that was set to go to trial next month as part of ongoing litigation over the company’s defective ignition switches, the New York Times reported today. GM, the nation’s largest automaker, had already won two so-called bellwether trials being conducted to resolve a variety of legal claims tied to its recall two years ago of vehicles equipped with faulty ignitions. The settlement of the latest case was unexpected, and an indication that GM may have wanted to avoid a protracted jury trial involving a fatal accident. In a filing with the United States District Court in New York, GM said it had reached a settlement with the wife of James E. Yingling, who died in a 2013 accident in Pennsylvania while in a Saturn Ion equipped with a defective ignition. Patrick Morrissey, a GM spokesman, said the terms of the settlement were confidential.
