GM Compensation Fund to Pay at Least 19 Death Claims
General Motors’ compensation fund will pay out claims to at least 19 deaths as the team assigned to make those decisions continues to filter through hundreds of applications.
To date, General Motors only officially claims responsibility for 13 deaths that it linked to faulty ignition switches installed in roughly 2.6 million vehicles. Attorney Kenneth Feinberg and his team are whistling a different tune. He and his team are assigned to direct the compensation fund that acknowledged six more death cases than GM’s official statements to date. Up to September 12, the fund received 125 compensation applications for deaths purportedly linked to the faulty switches. The approved claims are currently still waiting for a decision about payment amounts and could grow beyond the current 19.
The program began accepting claims on August 1 and as of September 12 counted 445 claims including 125 deaths, 58 for catastrophic injury and 262 for injuries that required hospitalization. Claims can be filed until the end of the year through a website that GM created.
General Motors said that it will pay out the claims Feinberg and his team select and that the claims will be reivewed and approved independently from General Motors.
So far there haven’t been any denied claims yet, but Camille Biros, the program’s deputy administrator, told Automotive News that they are coming close to that point.
In a record year for vehicle recalls, General Motors has called back 29 million vehilces spread over 67 of campaigns.
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[Source: Automotive News]
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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GM has killed more Americans than Ebola.