General Motors has emerged victorious in the second ignition-switch bellwether trial.
Jurors in a Manhattan federal court ruled that a 2014 crash involving a 2007 Saturn Sky on an icy New Orleans bridge was not caused by the ignition-switch defect. GM had argued that the accident was a minor fender bender, with a collision speed too slow for airbag activation.
“The evidence was overwhelming that this accident — like more than 30 others that occurred in the same area that night — was caused by the driver losing control on an icy bridge during a statewide winter weather emergency,” the company said in a statement to The Detroit News.
Despite the ruling, US District Judge Jesse Furman cautioned that “the outcome in this case might not dictate the outcome in other cases.”
The first test case was tossed after GM’s attorneys raised concerns over allegedly false statements made by plaintiffs. Arguments in the third case will be heard early in May.
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