Articles by Erik Larson and Patricia Hurtado

GM Wins Second ‘Bellwether’ Ignition Switch Trial

General Motors Co. won its second straight trial against drivers who blamed car wrecks on faulty ignition switches, boosting the company’s outlook for resolving hundreds of similar cases on more favorable terms. The crash of Dionne Spain’s 2007 Saturn Sky …

GM Tells Ignition Switch Jury: ‘Sometimes Accidents Just Happen’

“Sometimes, accidents just happen,” a lawyer for General Motors Co. told a U.S. jury in defense of the carmaker at a test trial over a deadly flaw in millions of ignition switches. The accident was one of dozens that occurred …

GM Avoids Showdown in First Ignition Trial But Faces Many More Ahead

General Motors Co. just watched the first big court case over an admitted deadly defect in its cars melt down as an Oklahoma postman who claimed GM ruined his life dropped his suit, accused of lying. The case was the …

Plaintiff in First ‘Bellwether’ GM Ignition Switch Trial Drops Case

The Oklahoma mail carrier at the center of the first trial over General Motors Co.’s deadly ignition-switch defect is dropping his claims after being accused of lying to the court. Robert Scheuer, 49, will walk away from the case empty- …

Judge Hits Plaintffs’ Lawyers in GM Ignition Switch Trial

General Motors Co. got a boost in the first trial over a deadly ignition-switch defect as a judge slammed plaintiffs’ lawyers for failing to vet their client, an Oklahoma mail carrier accused by the carmaker of lying to the court. …

First GM Ignition Switch Trial Sidetracked by Check Fraud Allegation

An Oklahoma family’s eviction from their “dream house” following allegations of check fraud is threatening to derail the first trial over General Motors Co.’s deadly ignition-switch flaw. Robert Scheuer, a mail carrier who claims the defect disabled his air bag …

GM Ignition Switch Trial Opens with Claim of Defect Coverup

General Motors Co. found a deadly flaw in its ignition switches but chose to keep customers and regulators in the dark for years, a lawyer for an injured postal carrier told jurors in the first trial over the defect. The …

GM Settles Shareholder Suit But Ignition Switch Exposure Not Over

General Motors Co.’s potential liability over flawed ignition switches isn’t over yet, and billions of dollars remain at stake. GM agreed Thursday to pay $575 million to end a shareholder suit tied to the defect and more than 1,380 civil …

AIG’s Lavastone in Dispute with Life Settlements Firm Coventry

An American International Group Inc. unit and Coventry First LLC began a trial in a dispute over bets in the insurance market on when people would die. Lavastone Capital LLC, the AIG subsidiary, claims Coventry ripped it off by more …

Lawsuit Presses Costco Liability for Thailand Fishing’s Slave Labor

Costco Wholesale Corp. was sued for selling farmed shrimp from Thailand, where slave labor and human trafficking in the fishing industry are widespread, and allegedly misleading U.S. consumers about it. A California woman filed what may be the first such …