Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
GM’s ignition-switch recall compensation fund is no longer accepting claims because the January 31 deadline has passed. However, this does not mean that consumers have no legal recourse if they were injured in a recalled vehicle.
Headlines were rampant in 2014 regarding the series of recalls issued by GM after an ignition-switch defect in about 2.6 million vehicles was linked to dozens of injuries and deaths. Federal investigations began and GM set up a victim compensation fund in order to settle death and injury claims.
In a regulatory filing released Wednesday, GM disclosed details regarding those claims. Here is what we know:
GM’s victim compensation fund started accepting claims August 1, 2014. During the six-month claims period that ended January 31:
- A grand total of 4,180 claims were filed, including more than 1,100 in the final week
- As of now, 482 claims have been rejected
- 455 claims involved a death. Officially, 51 deaths have now been linked to the GM ignition-switch defect.
GM has made 93 settlement offers to date, and none have yet been rejected, according to reports. It could take another six months to review all of the remaining claims.
While GM is standing by its January 31 cutoff date for compensation fund claims, anyone injured in a recalled GM vehicle may still be able to pursue a claim. All of these recalls have different scenarios, and a Florida Injury Lawyer at Whittel & Melton can review your claim and guide you on how to proceed.
For a free consultation, call us today at 866-608-5529 or contact us online. We can begin helping you immediately.