The Government Can’t Sue GM Anymore, But You Still Can

**The federal case against GM’s handling of their ignition switch recall might be over, but a judge has left the door open for owners to sue the automaker for economic losses if they want. Judge Jesse Furman ruled on claims of "manifest defects," or what claims can proceed based on if the defect manifested itself to a customer. The consolidated lawsuit is a massive 1,700 pages of arguments that GM should pay any vehicle owner who owned a recalled car equipped with bad ignition switches.

If you own (or have owned) one of the affected cars, this judge says you should be able to sue GM even if problems related to the ignition switch never affected you personally.

Normally I’d say there’s no way that’ll hold up in court … but it just did.

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Faulty Ignition Switch Can Cut Off Power and Disable Airbags

In February, 2014, General Motors recalled 1.6 million vehicles because of a faulty ignition switch that has been linked to the deaths of 13 people. To make matters worse, the company may have known about the defect for over a decade.