Bankruptcy judge: GM shielded from many lawsuits over ignitions

DETROIT – A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled General Motors can be shielded from many of the lawsuits over the defective ignition switches.

This does not impact those who filed under the compensation plan, but it could affect those who opted out and filed separate lawsuits.

The old bankruptcy plan shielded GM from lawsuits, so any crashes which happened while the company was under bankruptcy protection -- before 2009 -- could fall under the umbrella shield.

At last count, 84 deaths were linked the faulty switches.

Those numbers still could go up because more than 1,200 claims are under review including 91 death claims. The deadline to apply was Jan. 31

GM set aside $400 million to pay claims but the automaker now is saying it could take another $200 million to pay everything.

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