NEW YORK: Lawyers for General Motors Co and two Louisiana residents suing the US automaker over a 2014 car crash clashed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday about whether the accident was caused by icy roads or a faulty ignition switch that prompted the recall of millions of vehicles weeks later.
During opening arguments in the second lawsuit to go to trial over the switch, Randall Jackson, a lawyer representing plaintiffs Dionne Spain and Lawrence Barthelemy, told jurors that the crash could have been avoided if GM had taken action in response to numerous reports it had received since 2004 about problems with the switch. It has been linked to nearly 400 serious injuries and deaths.
"This was part of a grand failure by GM," Jackson said. A lawyer for GM, Mike Brock, acknowledged that some GM employees made "mistakes and errors in judgment" in dealing with the switch over the course of a decade, but he said the part was not to blame for Spain and Barthelemy's crash.
Instead, he said the accident was likely caused by hazardous weather, including ice on the bridge where Spain was driving, noting that 35 other accidents had been reported on the bridge that night.
"This car is not the villain in this case," he said.
Spain has said the defective switch in her 2007 Saturn Sky caused her to lose control of its steering and brakes on January 24, 2014, leading the car to spin out and injuring her and Barthelemy, who was a passenger in the car.
Their lawsuit is the second to go to trial since GM recalled 2.6 million vehicles in 2014 with the switch, which can slip out of place, causing engine stalls and cutting power to steering, air bags and brakes.
Hundreds of personal injury and death cases have been filed over accidents involving recalled vehicles, many of which have been consolidated before US District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan. He had scheduled six test trials to help assess the claims' value.
The first trial ended abruptly in January without a verdict following allegations that the plaintiff gave misleading testimony.
GM has already paid about $2 billion in settlements and penalties over the switch, after acknowledging that some of its employees knew about the part's flaws but failed to warn the public.
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