News Archive

Email A Friend

More News

April 25, 2024
California Department of Industrial Relations and Cal/OSHA Will Honor Workers’ Memorial Day at Four Events in California on April 28th-29th 2024. Cal/OSHA Joining Partners in Arcadia, Richmond, San Diego and San Francisco.

April 23, 2024
California Division of Workers' Compensation Launches Online Portal for Submission of QME Medical-Legal Reports

April 22, 2024
California Division of Workers’ Compensation Posts Updated Time of Hire Notice

April 22, 2024
Sullivan on Comp Launches ChatSOC. It's an Innovative Chatbot for California Workers' Compensation Professionals Integrated with an Authoritative Legal Treatise

Discounts from $250 to $1,000 on new General Motors vehicles and a $4.1 million GM-funded safety research program are two elements of a long-litigated mass claim settlement relating to defective fuel systems, according to a State of Louisiana court decree.

Dating back to 1992, the court case zeroed in on owners of 1973-86 GM C/K pickups and 1987-91 R and V model pickups that had alleged defective fuel systems, subjecting millions of vehicles to potential fire or crash-caused explosions. The settlement will render discount coupons to current and former owners, but only if they owned the trucks in July 1996.

GM manufactured 9 million full-size trucks and a lesser number of smaller vehicles that featured side-saddle fuel tanks. Installed outside the protective frame rails, the failed fuel systems resulted in scores of serious injuries and deaths, the court concluded.

Thought to be the largest automobile case in terms of the numbers of class-action participants, the settlement could cost GM anywhere between less than $100 million to over $1 billion, contingent on how many discount coupons are redeemed, analysts said.

The lawsuit, in which GM Corp. did not admit liability, coincided with an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which concluded in 1994 that the trucks had a serious fire risk. However, rather than carrying out a recall, NHTSA brokered a settlement, ticketing GM with $51 million in damages.