The District Court judge presiding over the GM ignition switch lawsuit has issued a court order demanding that the parties involved in the litigation cooperate.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman filed the 14-page order in late September 2014. The order outlined procedures to avoid duplication of efforts and to promote an “efficient and speedy resolution” of the case. This order came in response to a motion by General Motor’s legal team called a “gatekeeping order,” saying that multiple court appearances by the same legal counsel in Georgia State Court were interfering with their ability to follow court procedures.

The GM ignition switch defect lawsuits center on a GM recall for more than 24.6 million cars in the United States alone. This defect was in several General Motors brands, including Chevrolet, Saturn, and Pontiac made over a roughly 10 year period.

According to GM lawsuits, a GM ignition switch defect caused cars’ ignition switch circuitry to switch from the “on” position to the “auxiliary” or “standby” position. In the auxiliary position, a car’s engine powers down and the air bags deactivate. If a car was in motion and the engine suddenly turned off, a serious accident could occur, as a person could lose control of their vehicle or suddenly come to a stop in traffic.

On top of this, airbags that are deactivated just prior to a car accident could obviously make any accident much worse. GM lawsuits, and several investigations by federal regulators, have alleged that this defect has led to accidents, including fatal crashes.

Many GM lawsuits have cited onboard electronics as key evidence. Most modern automobiles rely on some form of electronics to run the car. These electronics can amount to small onboard computers, which can function as “black boxes” in the event of accidents in the hands of the right forensics expert.

In many GM ignition switch lawsuits, it has been found that the onboard electronics recorded that cars’ ignition switches had moved from the on position to the auxiliary position seconds before fatal car accidents.

One issue brought up by GM ignition switch lawsuits is that evidence has been found suggesting that some key individuals at General Motors were aware of the GM ignition switch defect for more than a decade. Federal investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as Congressional hearings, have found evidence that lead engineers were aware of the problem.

General Motors’ own internal investigation attributed the lack of action to a widespread “culture of incompetence” at GM. During this time frame, GM was radically restructured after filing for bankruptcy, which has further complicated some of the litigation, since in some ways the present-day General Motors is a different company after its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.

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