General Motors Co. avoided a potential $1 billion-plus stock payout to address claims stemming from the auto giant's ignition-switch crisis after a judge found a settlement between plaintiffs and a trust for the company's bankruptcy estate unenforceable, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Bankruptcy Judge <b>Martin Glenn</b> yesterday ruled that an August deal reached between ignition-switch plaintiffs and a trust tasked with compensating creditors of so-called Old GM couldn't go forward because the settlement lacked necessary signatures. Old GM is the term often used to describe the assets GM left behind in 2009 as part of its $50 billion government rescue and bankruptcy restructuring.
