Plaintiffs claim GM's petition to freeze ignition defect suits is a distraction

The complainants behind the lawsuit regarding the ignition defect on General Motors Co's small cars are urging the a California judge to disregard the automaker's petition to freeze claims, Bloomberg reported. Grappling with its most daunting challenge to date since its 2009 bankruptcy filing, GM had asked both courts in California and Texas to delay the lawsuits against the company until a bankruptcy judge in New York determines that claims against automaker regarding defects do not violate its Chapter 11 reorganization terms.

GM has recalled 2.59 million small cars over a defect found in its ignition system. It has since fended off a customer effort to seek a court order to force the company to issue an advice to consumers to stop driving the cars until the defect has been fixed. A Corpus Christi, Texas judge reportedly claimed ignorance about recall terms and said that US regulators are better situated to handle such matters.

The latest petition directly affects at least 36 claims made against the automaker for the said defect, Bloomberg said. In a February 17 court filing made by the California plaintiffs, the said in response to the freeze petition that they are demanding information from the automaker in order for them to ask the judge more facts about the cars affected by the defect and to urge the GM to expand its recall to a point of grounding the vehicles.

"This discovery is sought in order to protect the public. GM's argument regarding the impending filing with the Bankruptcy Court is a red herring and must be rejected," they said.

In an emailed statement by GM spokesman Kevin Kelly, he said, "Our full efforts are on our customers' safety and fixing their vehicles as quickly as we can. We also are conducting an unsparing, comprehensive review of the circumstances leading to the ignition switch recall to make sure something like this does not happen again."

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General Motors Co, General Motors Co recall

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