GM wins ignition switch case

Attorneys: Driver’s reckless speeding caused fatal crash.

HOUSTON — A Texas jury on Thursday found that a General Motors Co. ignition switch was not to blame for a 2011 accident that killed one driver and injured another, handing the carmaker its third courtroom win this year in a series of trials designed to help attorneys settle dozens of similar claims.

The switches can slip out of the on position, causing the cars to stall, knocking out power steering and turning off air bags. GM says it has fixed the problem.

Zachary Stevens and his parents had sued GM, claiming the deactivation of an ignition switch while he was driving his Saturn Sky caused him to lose control of the car and hit another vehicle, killing its driver. Stevens’ attorneys said he suffered a traumatic brain injury and a skull fracture in the accident.

Attorneys for GM told jurors that the accident was caused by Stevens’ reckless speeding on a rain-slick road.

Stevens was charged with manslaughter, but a grand jury declined to indict him and the charges were eventually dropped after GM began its recall related to the ignition switch.

In 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million older small cars worldwide, including the Sky, to replace the faulty switches. GM also reviewed a backlog of safety problems and ordered a record 84 recalls that year covering more than 30 million vehicles, including 27 million in the U.S.

GM won two other ignition cases that were tried earlier this year.

In January, a trial in New York ended abruptly after the judge raised questions about the plaintiff ’s truthfulness. In March, a New York jury found that an ignition switch was not to blame in a 2014 accident on an icy New Orleans bridge.

The cases are part of a series of bellwether trials that are testing the legal boundaries of hundreds of claims remaining against GM.

In September, GM announced it had settled 1,385 death and injury cases for $275 million and a class-action shareholders’ lawsuit for $300 million.

The company paid nearly $600 million to settle 399 claims made to a fund it established. Those claims covered 124 deaths and 275 injuries. GM’s fund rejected more than 90 percent of the 4,343 claims it received, according to figures the company released in December.

AP 2013 The logo for General Motors decorates the entrance at the site of a GM information technology center in Roswell. In 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million older small cars worldwide to replace faulty ignition switches.