GM to ask bankruptcy court for lawsuit protection

[PoliticAverse]

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors revealed in court filings late Tuesday that it will soon ask a federal bankruptcy judge to shield the company from legal claims for conduct that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy.

The automaker's strategy is in a motion filed in a Corpus Christi, Texas, federal court case, and in other cases across the nation that involve the defective ignition switches that have led GM to recall 2.6 million small cars.

...

With the motion, GM is trying to limit its legal liability in the cases while at the same time it considers compensation for families of crash victims. GM has hired Kenneth Feinberg - who handled the fund for the victims of 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing and the BP oil spill - to explore ways to compensate victims. No decision has been made.

Read the rest at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GENERAL_MOTORS_LAWSUITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-15-23-07-59

[bluestateguy]

1. Kenneth Feinberg? Him again?

The grand paymaster returns.

[JimDandy]

2. To be shielded from legal claims in a bankruptcy,

wouldn't GM have to have declared those ignition switch problems to the bankruptcy court years ago. If creditors have only a limited time to make a claim, shouldn't also the entity declaring bankruptcy?

What is equally awful is that GM defrauded the U.S. by not revealing these potential claims during the bailout negotiations. Why isn't the SEC looking into this? It seems to me that inducing entities to buy shares of their company or to loan them money while omitting this info would constitute fraud.