Month: February 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

A major Maryland auto dealer joins consumers supporting State legislation.

“The outrageous delays in getting cars with serious safety flaws recalled are putting the lives of our customers at risk,” Jack Fitzgerald notes. “Dealers need to make sure safety recalls happen much more quickly. We need to make it possible for our customers to get the warranty and repair work they need done, when they need it done.”

The reform package comes after a record 64 million U.S. vehicles were recalled to address safety and repair problems in 2014. In the case of the GM ignition switch failures, and in many of the other recalls, the safety fixes now underway come many years, sometimes more than a decade, after manufacturers knew the cars carried serious safety flaws.

“People are losing their lives on the road because manufactures are hiding safety problems, delaying recalls, and forcing dealers to withhold critical information,” Fitzgerald said.

At least 56 people have died, and hundreds have suffered devastating injuries in crashes that could have been prevented if the flawed GM ignition switches had been repaired in a timely fashion.

Laura Christian knows the pain those losses caused first hand, after her daughter Amber lost her life when the airbag in her new Chevy Cobalt failed to inflate when she struck a tree on July 29, 2005.”

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

A lost limb in a crash, a whistle blower, and a lobbying blitz.

What are we to do when we read that Billions of dollars are being spent to elect Presidents, Senators, Members of Congress?  And countless dollars also are being spent to elect and influence Governors, State Legislators, Judges, Attorneys General?   And then there are the Revolving Doors.  Governmental officials at all levels and in all branches can be tempted and seduced by the prospect of a “better life” on the outside if they behave well on the inside.  Such is life on the inside and societal harm including deaths and injuries on the outside.

And then there are the infinite ways of bribery – legal and otherwise that are seldom caught and punished.  

In September, I wrote about President Obama’s and Attorney General Holder’s record of failures to protect crash victims  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-holderresign.php Today we read in an excellent NY Times article:“The entire structure of a corporation is intended to protect and insulate high-ranking executives, who are often shielded from knowledge of wrongdoing, even if they have tacitly approved it.”  See 

Recall the GM Ignition Switch Defect case.  The latest status:

“In the fraught summer of 2009, the federal bankruptcy judge Robert E. Gerber proved to be a crucial figure in General Motors’ struggle for survival. With the economy in deep recession and the once-dominant automaker bleeding red ink, he presided over a bankruptcy process that allowed G.M. to remake itself — with the help of $49 billion from federal taxpayers — as a new company free of onerous liabilities.

On Tuesday, lawyers representing the reborn, and profitable, G.M. were back in Judge Gerber’s Manhattan courtroom seeking his assistance once again. They were asking him simply to uphold a key provision of the agreement, but the judge’s response is less certain.

The occasion was a day of oral arguments over whether a provision of the July 2009 agreement that shielded the “new G.M.” from most legal claims involving accidents before that date should be allowed to stand. The company is trying to shut down hundreds of lawsuits, many of them seeking class-action status, over a defective ignition switch that has been linked to hundreds of accidents and at least 56 deaths.”  See

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/business/judge-hears-arguments-over-gms-exposure-to-recall-suits.html?hpw&rref=automobiles&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

So what is Judge Robert E. Gerber’s status?  Automotive News citing Reuters reports the judge announced his intent to retire. 

“NEW YORK (Reuters) — The New York bankruptcy judge overseeing part of the fallout from General Motors Co’s problems with faulty ignition switches will retire from the bench, but remain active in so-called recall status for at least a year, his court announced.

Judge Robert Gerber will assume recall status on Jan. 1, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York announced in a statement published late on Friday. Recall status allows judges who are technically retired to continue to serve.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Gerber was planning to assume recall status.”

Gerber will remain on the bench at least through 2015, according to the court’s announcement.”  See

http://www.autonews.com/article/20141117/OEM/141119858/gms-bankruptcy-judge-to-retire-remain-on-recall-status

Two types of ignorance: unconscious (absence of information) and conscious (in presence of information).

Will right be done in GM case?

Lou

Now we read the following:“Carmakers are far from the only companies that can exploit loopholes that allow them to lower their tax bill by deducting fines, forfeitures and other payments related to wrongdoing. Although the tax law forbids deductions for criminal fines and penalties owed to the government, other kinds of payments — to compensate victims or correct damages — are eligible for a tax deduction.”  Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/business/when-a-company-is-fined-taxpayers-often-share-the-punishment.html?_r=0

*  And http://legalnewsline.com/issues/class-action/254860-airbag-recall-lawsuits-consolidated-being-sent-to-fla-federal-court?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LNL0327alert2

USA Today’s Larry Copeland also wrote an excellent article that explored the injury problems of unbuckled people in taxis and the lack of laws requiring people in backseats to be buckled up.  See http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/13/no-seat-belt-violation-in-simon-crash/23354289/ Bob Simon’s life and tragic death can continue to do good for humankind forever.