GM Not Protected From Ignition Switch Claims: U.S. Appeals Court

General Motors’ 2009 bankruptcy does not shield it from lawsuits over a deadly ignition-switch defect that led to criminal charges against the automaker and prompted the recall of 2.6 million vehicles in 2014, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said barring plaintiffs from suing GM (GM.N) over crashes and lost vehicle value stemming from the faulty switch would violate their constitutional rights to due process, since they had not been notified of the defect prior to GM’s bankruptcy.