A lawsuit was filed by the families of 29 people who died in car accidents allegedly caused by the General Motors ignition switch defect, which can cause airbags to fail. Another 629 people who claim they suffered serious personal injuries from the defect are also part of the new GM lawsuit.

The GM ignition switch lawsuit was filed in New York federal court on July 29, with plaintiffs seeking damages on behalf of individuals who are not eligible for GM’s victim compensation fund, which has started accepting applications. All of the claims presented in the lawsuit involves accidents that occurred after GM’s 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.

A additional GM lawsuit is expected to be filed on behalf of another 136 injured victims, and 21 victims who died in accidents that occurred before the bankruptcy. Since the bankruptcy, GM has slowly rebuilt its reputation and had been enjoying success. In the past year, GM has recalled nearly 20 million vehicles over the ignition defect, which allegedly caused many vehicles to suddenly shut off.

Overview of GM Recall

The ignition switch defect involves the weight of keys attached to the ignition key causing the switch to inadvertently swith to the off position. This would lead to the engine shutting off, which in turn disables the airbags. So far, the automaker has only promised to compensate victims of accident victims who owned roughly 2.6 million Chevy, Pontiac and Saturn vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Admission (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System shows that there were 303 deaths of front passenger seats in the 2005-2007 Cobalts and 2003-2007 Ion models, involving airbags that failed to deploy.

The company has acknowledged that some at GM were aware of the ignition defect for years, but failed to adequately address the problem. In response, GM reviewed recalled more than 17 million additional vehicles due to the same ignition switch defect and were not included in the victims’ compensation fund, resulting in the current lawsuit.

The current GM victim fund is $400 million. GM has indicated that it intends to file a motion this month, seeking immunity from having to pay out over issues with the additional 17 million recalled vehicles. The company argues that the additional vehicles were a part of the manufacturing process of “old GM,” and therefore it should not be held responsible. However, the plaintiffs argue that the defendant should pay for all injuries from the defective vehicles, because the defendant was aware of the problems.

In June, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued an order to consolidate all economic lawsuits against GM under U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in New York for pretrial proceedings.

In general, GM ignition switch lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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