GM Bankruptcy May Thwart Lawsuits

Claimants Against Automaker Wary Of How They Will Be Affected By Potential Chapter 11

(CBS/AP)  Bondholders, auto workers and consumers aren't the only ones concerned with General Motors' potential bankruptcy. The roughly 1,200 Americans suing the automaker have a stake too.

One of those claimants is Robert Dinnigan, a New York iron worker whose daughter Amanda was left paralyzed after an allegedly faulty seatbelt failed to protect her in an accident, according to a Daily News report Tuesday.

Dinnigan said Amanda's medical bills total around $500,000 a year and he's concerned that if GM enters Chapter 11, he'd be low on the list of creditors waiting to get a piece of the company.

Faced with the same prospect, many other claimants are pushing to settle quickly, even though there would be no guarantees on collecting the full amount should GM enter bankruptcy.

Lawyers are lobbying Congress to create a victims' compensation fund similar to what was set up for 9/11 families, according to the report.

Meanwhile, in an effort to stave off bankruptcy, GM will give the United Auto Workers union 17.5 percent of its common stock, $6.5 billion of preferred shares and a $2.5 billion note to fund a trust that will take over retiree health care costs starting next year.

The funding for the trust is outlined in a summary of concessions that the company and union have agreed to as GM tries to restructure outside of bankruptcy.

The summary was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

[fedupredneck]

"...I had a 2005 Chevy Malibu which would sometimes not start. I would have to crank it 3 times before the thing finally turned over. ..."---Posted by walt1944 at 12:00 PM : May 26, 2009

And if you simply turned the key to the ON position, and waited until the fuel pump had finished pressurizing the injector rails in about 6 seconds, THEN tried cranking, what happened?
Posted by tmittelstaed at 12:13 PM : May 26, 2009

LOL-I wonder if walt1944 ever heard of a tune up.

[fedupredneck]

Posted by skisworld at 4:10 PM : May 26, 2009

Thank you-Its nice to see an actual comment on the story. Kudos to you.

[decotoguy]

MUSH for BRAINS AMERAICANS ,know who is at fault,,,themselves.....for decades they institute leaders to draw and measure designed obsolecence.the obsession for speed,the desire to exploit this planet.has all come to a head,reality......the check has been given....

[spaceatoms]

I am going to sue someone when I die and hopefully win a lawsuit. Maybe I'll sue the graveyard because its noisy!

[mcv57]

But don't worry, as soon as the Chinese Yuan is allowed to float freely against the dollar ALL our CEO jobs will be outsourced.

Posted by dfnj2009

Then enters the National Labor Enslavement Act, by the peoples of China Republic.

[mcv57]

Let them go bankrupt. Sell off their assets and PAY US BACK!!!

Then all of these overpaid union workers can go and earn a reasonable salary at American Toyota or Honda plants. They will start selling plenty of cars that GM currently sells.
Posted by jonesjep

Toyota and Honda have no openings in the U.S. . Japan unemployment is at 4.4 %, so if you speak English and Japanese you may be able to find a job over there in Japan.

[jonesjep]

Let them go bankrupt. Sell off their assets and PAY US BACK!!!

Then all of these overpaid union workers can go and earn a reasonable salary at American Toyota or Honda plants. They will start selling plenty of cars that GM currently sells.

[dfnj2009]

You must be a lying liberal in denial.
Why do you lie so much?
Posted by weedapoopl at 4:36 PM : May 26, 2009

The answer to your question is because you are a Republican. As a Republican you use faith based intelligence. With faith based intelligence all your life experiences are supporting evidence and proof for you own existing prejudices and bigotries. Everything you experience just proves exactlt how you expect "liberals" to behave. This is because with your Republican colored glasses you only see the world through one type of lense.

[dfnj2009]

GM is the worse managed company in American history. Wagner's lavish pension is valued at $22 million. Any company giving their executives such lavish pensions deserves to go out of business. This is pure insanity!

When the spoiled brat sons and daughters took over our companies they pretty much did not change their lifelong behaviors!

But don't worry, as soon as the Chinese Yuan is allowed to float freely against the dollar ALL our CEO jobs will be outsourced.

[weedapoopl]

And what does she have to do with the price of tea in china?
Posted by hologram5 at 3:48 PM : May 26, 2009

Do you really have such a short memory? You must be a lying liberal in denial.

Pelosi is the one who took to the podium right after Election Day saying we must bail out the auto makers.

And now, after taking billions of dollars thanks to Pelosi, they are declaring bankruptcy so THEY WILL NEVER PAY IT BACK.

All that money came straight out of OUR POCKETS!!!!

So if Pelosi gets another chance to pick our pockets and rob us blind, SHE WILL!!!


Oh, right, and you didn't know about that.

Why do you lie so much?

[skisworld]

Although this is a tragic result of an accident, a little more about the circumstances of this event, how, when and why the vehicle hit a tree. Who or what was at fault in the accident? This missing info leads me to believe that to the blame is being pushed off to the big bucks at GM like so many other accidents involving human error or misjudgement. If the vehicle was defective and ran into the tree there may be an issue but who says you are injury or death proof wearing a seatbelt? If the glass in vehicle accident cuts you or a vehicle part breaks, bends, etc. and causes injury whose to blame? We all take for granted that that 1-2 ton mass will protect us but to what point, You are not surround by thick foam or protective bubbles like mailing a package. It seem like there is more to this story that what has been presented. I'd like to see more facts.

[hologram5]

And you can bet PELOSI is all for it.
----------------------------------------------
Who cares? And what does she have to do with the price of tea in china?

[brianbwb-2009]

"And you can bet PELOSI is all for it." Posted by weedapoopl

If you were one of the victims of the policy of "acceptable liability", which weighs the cost of fixing defects against the potential lawsuit liability, you would also be all for it.

[weedapoopl]

"Lawyers are lobbying Congress to create a victims' compensation fund similar to what was set up for 9/11 families, according to the report"
Posted by czechtraveler at 1:38 PM : May 26, 2009

And you can bet PELOSI is all for it.

[czechtraveler]

"Lawyers are lobbying Congress to create a victims' compensation fund similar to what was set up for 9/11 families, according to the report"

Unbelievable.....GD stinking lawyers want the taxpayer to cough up even more bucks to line their pockets and undeserving people

[whitemale08]

First of all, no medical bills should total a 1/2 million dollars a year.

This is one of the reasons why GM is bankrupt because of HMO's and the overhead that's crushing health-care in this country.

As soon as Wall Street/City of London got it's way with Richard Nixon, they figured out a way to bankrupt health-care in this country by making it solely for profit, that way inflation could run un-checked and people could be denied care on the excuse that it's too expensive.

All of the research at the the Universities is subsidized by the government so why in the hell would we allow Wall Street/City of London to scoop all of the iligetimate profits and gains from health-care.

Health-care should not be an 'industry' like the music business, it should be a basic service component of a progressive optimal society that's free from oligarchs and paper-billionaires sucking blood out of the system through bail-outs.

Obama obviously is on the side of the banksters and that means we the people are going to be left out in the cold.

Thanks Obama, for bailing out Wall Street, I hope you can sleep at night when you tell the American people that there's no more money left to treat them.

[lastdance152]

The litigants should go after the UAW and the government with civil lawsuits.
Posted by credibility2 at 11:39 AM : May 26, 2009
________

credibility2
We all understand your PATRIOTISM perfectly

credibility2
American Economy DESTROYER

credibility2
The proud Example of the :
The Republican NAZI Party
National Socialist NAZI Party

credibility2
The Confederate NAZI States of America Pledge
To Destroy the Union

credibility2
The True : American Domestic Terrorist

[tmittelstaed]

"...I had a 2005 Chevy Malibu which would sometimes not start. I would have to crank it 3 times before the thing finally turned over. ..."---Posted by walt1944 at 12:00 PM : May 26, 2009

And if you simply turned the key to the ON position, and waited until the fuel pump had finished pressurizing the injector rails in about 6 seconds, THEN tried cranking, what happened?

[despido]

Increasing GM's debt in order to solve GM's debt problem seems to have failed. What gives Obama the impression it will be any different with America?

[walt1944]

Repairing defective equipment on their vechiles has never been a high priority at GM.

I had a 2005 Chevy Malibu which would sometimes not start. I would have to crank it 3 times before the thing finally turned over. The dealer told me GM was aware of the problem, but no recalls had come thru, so if I wanted it fixed (if the dealer could find out what it was), I would have to pay the full cost. I have talked to other Malibu owners and found out the problem goes back to 1999!!! And GM is still working on it!!!!

They are just like any other Corporate America entity. Do as little R & D and safety testing as possible and let the consumer do the remainder of it .

And we are having to "rescue" GREEDY companies like this!!!

HAIL OBAMA????