Plaintiffs suing General Motors Co. over faulty ignition switches and other alleged vehicle defects have reached a $1 billion settlement requiring the automaker to turn over that amount of stock, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said in a court hearing on Friday, Reuters reported. GM lawyer Richard Godfrey strongly criticized the agreement, telling U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan the Detroit-based company was given no say in the deal negotiated between the plaintiffs and a trust set up for creditors of “old GM,” which holds many liabilities predating the automaker's 2009 bankruptcy. Godfrey said that the settlement was a result of collusion between the plaintiffs and the trust, and "a complete surrender and sellout using new GM's money." The ignition switch litigation consolidated before Furman stems from GM's 2014 recall of 2.6 million vehicles with defective switches. One type of switch has been linked to nearly 400 injuries and 124 deaths. The claims have expanded to include a variety of alleged defects in millions of cars.
