GM ignition fund death toll hits 51 as deadline passes
Biros, Feinberg and a staff of more than 100 people have at least 1,103 claims to review.
Administrators of the General Motors Ignition Compensation fund received 4,180 claims as of the Jan. 31 deadline and the number of settlements for deaths rose by one in the last week to 51.
Camille Biros, who administered the fund with Kenneth Feinberg, said there could be more claims in the next few days from people who mailed their claims late Saturday. All claims had to be postmarked by midnight Jan. 31.
Despite calls from Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., that the deadline be extended, Biros said it will not.
Biros, Feinberg and a staff of more than 100 people still have at least 1,103 claims to review. There are also 1,502 claims submitted with no documentation. Biros said those can be reviewed if and when sufficient evidence is presented.
"We still have a fair amount of work ahead of us," said Biros, who estimated the process likely will be completed by "late spring."
GM created the fund on Aug. 1 to compensate for people killed or injured in crashes involving about 2.5 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other compact vehicles sold mostly between the 2003 and 2007 model years. The vehicles were equipped with defective ignition switches that could inadvertently slip from the "on" to "accessory" position, disabling the power steering, air bags and other electrical features.
That recall began in February 2014, but there was evidence some GM personnel knew about the problem as early as 2003.
The automaker has estimated the cost of the fund at between $400 million and $600 million. GM had no involvement in the decision about whether a claim is eligible for compensation. Company attorneys have presented evidence in some cases if they thought there were grounds that a claim should be dismissed, Biros said.
Of the cases that the compensation fund staff has reviewed, 480 were deemed ineligible.
In addition to the 51 fatal claims that have been offered some payment, the fund found eight claims eligible for compensation in crashes where someone suffered catastophic, life-altering injuries, and 69 claims for less severe injuries that required medical treatment within 48 hours of the accident.
While each claimant who was found to be eligible can reject the settlement and take their case to court, no eligible claimants have rejected their offers so far, Biros said.
Biros has worked with Feinberg on other disaster compensation funds, including those for victims of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and a related crash in Pennsylvania, the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Asked if she learned anything new from the GM ignition case, Biros said in many, but not all ways, it was similar.
"The big difference with this one is that a significant amount of time has passed for many of these victims and their families," she said.