A recent article out of the New York Times goes into detail about General Motors’ (GM) decade-long neglect of the safety defect that has now killed at least 13 people. A report, written by former United States Attorney Anton R Valukas, implicated variety of GM employees in how the deadly ignition switch defect has been handled over the past decade. So far, 15 GM employees, including a vice president and senior lawyer responsible for product liability cases have been let go. At least five over employees have been disciplined. Thanks to this report, policies are being put into place that will change how the company handles vehicle safety.
What Took so Long?
Apparently, in spite of all the risk, the lives lost, the injuries and the very real danger to drivers on the road, a good-old-fashioned lack of accountability is being blamed for this egregious and almost unbelievable decade-long safety problem. Although a variety of employees and executives at many different corporate levels had the responsibility to fix the problem, nobody took responsibility to actually do it.
Corporate Culpability
Some people are criticizing the report for going easy on GM executives. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, is calling this “the best report money can buy.” He is also quick to point out that the lack of accountability in upper management and the denial of deliberate wrongdoing and dismissal of corporate culpability.
Product Liability Cases
Each product liability case is different. In cases involving defective or faulty products that haven’t yet been officially recalled, attorneys will need to obtain evidence, experts, investigative reports and data to prove that the product was defective or faulty. If there is one thing we can take away from the way GM handled this deadly defective product, it’s that recalls can take years, if not decades, to be issued. When corporations are just looking out for their bottom lines, they’re not looking out for people. People get injured or killed before official recalls get announced. If you have been injured or you have lost a loved one due to a potentially defective product, contact the experienced team at Alexander Law Group, LLP at (888) 777-1776 for a free consultation today.
