General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) was haunted by the recall issues in 2014. The major portion of it was mainly due to the faulty ignition switches, which led to many accidents and even deaths in US. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) had earlier set a deadline of 31 January 2015 to file the claims for the compensation due to these faulty ignition switches. The deadline has passed and many complaints were filed. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau and Feinberg Rozen’s Kenneth Feinberg talked on CNBC about the latest details on General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s ignition recall program. Feinberg is also the administrator of GM Faulty Ignition switch compensation fund.
“Well so far, we are still counting. They come in. In all of these programs, they come in a rush at the end. But the numbers aren’t yet final. […] But we received 4180 claims. Of the 4180 claims that we have received we have already noted that about 3000 of them are either ineligible. […] About 1500 claims have no documentation at all. On the other end we have authorized payment for 51 deaths and about another 70 or so physical injuries,” Feinberg said.
He said that almost 4180 claims were filed and out of which more than 3000 had no proper information and becomes ineligible. He added that they have already authorized payments for 51 deaths and 70+ physical injuries. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has already allocated $400 to $600 million for the compensation fund. Feinberg that the question has to be raised to General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), since they need to decide on the payments and compensations. He added that no eligible claimant has rejected the money that they have authorized.
It was a well-known fact that originally 13 families were at the disposal of these General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) vehicles with faulty ignition switches. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) fought in court against these claims. LeBeau question if these families were paid through the fund and have they accepted the compensation. Feinberg said that those 13 families compensation was processed under this program.
Feinberg has done some similar compensation fund administration for other incidents like 9/11. But he feels that major difference in the GM faulty switch issue is that some of the claims were so outdated and even dated way back to early 2000’s. He said that it was very difficult to reconstruct the accidents with circumstantial evidence after a lot of time. He said that GM found only 13 such incidents and they have found 51 deaths so far due to faulty ignition switches.
Disclosure: None
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