In an order issued today, Judge Jesse M. Furman, overseeing the General
Motors (NYSE:GM) ignition switch multi-district litigation (MDL), denied
a motion to remove court-appointed lead counsel, including Hagens
Berman’s Steve Berman.
“The court’s opinion and the needs of our clients take precedence over
unwarranted, time-wasting motions, and we will continue to focus on
tenaciously leading this litigation,” said Steve Berman, managing
partner of Hagens Berman and co-lead counsel representing GM vehicle
owners in the suit. “We look forward to continuing to best represent the
plaintiffs in this case against GM who have been victim to its egregious
actions – they are what matter most.”
In his order issued Feb. 10, 2016, Judge Furman characterized the
motions, filed by a single lawyer who was not supported by any other
attorneys, as “patently untimely” and providing “little or no evidence
to support their (sometimes wild) accusations of impropriety and
underhandedness on the part of Lead Counsel.” Indeed, the court added
that the motions did “not even come close to providing a legal basis for
the drastic step of removing lead counsel in the middle of MDL
proceedings that, “all things considered, have proceeded remarkably
smoothly and swiftly to date” in this complex and multi-faceted
litigation.
Steve Berman was appointed co-lead counsel representing owners of GM
vehicles in the MDL. The MDL arises from GM’s announcement that over 20
million GM vehicles were plagued by a barrage of safety defects and
bungled recalls from GM that irrevocably damaged GM’s brand, according
to the firm.
Among the safety defects at issue is a defect that involves the car’s
ignition, which according to consumers, can switch off while in
operation, disabling airbags and other electrical and safety features
such as power steering and power brakes. According to published reports,
government documents, and GM’s own internal documents, GM had knowledge
of the ignition switch defect as early as 2001, but the lawsuit charges
that the company ignored warnings of the defect’s severity and did not
warn consumers.
About
Hagens Berman
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law
firm with offices in 10 cities. The firm has been named to the National
Law Journal’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List eight times. More about the law firm
and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com.
Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.
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