The litigation over General Motor’s ignition switch problems is being consolidated in federal court as part of a process to streamline the legal system under a proposal from GM.

General Motor’s legal counsel has released a letter to a federal court judge proposing that injury lawsuits stemming form the GM ignition switch problems be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, or MDL.

MDLs are a kind of coordinated group of similar lawsuits. In some ways, they are similar to class action lawsuits, in that a number of plaintiffs allege that they have suffered similar harm at the hands of the same defendant. The main difference is that class action lawsuits start out as group lawsuits, while MDLs start out as a  individual lawsuits, which are later coordinated into an MDL. In MDLs, cases retain a degree of autonomy, and plaintiffs have their own lawyers. Both MDLs and class action lawsuits are designed to help streamline the legal system by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands, of individual lawsuits into a single coordinated legal action.

The GM ignition switch defect is in the circuitry of a number of GM vehicles. General Motors cars include a number of different brand names, including Saturn and Pontiac. In a variety of GM cars, there was allegedly a defect in the circuit of the ignition switch which caused the car’s ignition to switch from “on” to “auxiliary” (or “standby”). In standby mode, a car’s engine powers down. At the same time, this mode deactivates some of a car’s safety features, including the air bags. Allegedly, this has happened to GM cars when driving, causing accidents, including some fatalities.

Investigators from various branches of the government, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have found that some individuals at GM had been aware of the problem for more than a decade prior to the GM ignition switch recall. However, in the words of GM’s own internal investigation, a “culture of incompetence” was the cause of the long-term inaction on the issue. In light of the problems with both the potentially fatal ignition switch and the company’s inaction, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has asked Congress to increase the maximum amount of money the NHTSA can fine General Motors almost tenfold to $300 million, arguing that the current maximum fine of $35 million is insufficient in light of seriousness of the problem.

The GM Ignition Switch MDL is In Re: General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, Case No. 1:14-mc-02543, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.