Articles by Erik Larson and Margaret Cronin Fisk

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 …

Family of Va. Woman Killed by Takata Air Bag Shrapnel Seeks to Reopen Suit

The family of a Virginia woman who was killed by shrapnel from a Takata Corp. air bag is seeking to reopen a lawsuit it previously settled over her death based on allegations the company knew the device was defective. Gurjit …

U.S. Sues Volkswagen, Seeks Up to $80 Billion in Penalties

The U.S. Justice Department sued Volkswagen AG for installing illegal devices meant to defeat emissions testing, and laid out claims that could push penalties into the tens of billions of dollars — an opening salvo in a legal battle that …

Driverless Cars Give Lawyers Bottomless List of Defendants

Imagine a robot car with no one behind the wheel hitting another driverless car. Who’s at fault? The answer: No one knows. But plaintiff’s lawyers are salivating at the prospects for big paydays from such accidents. If computers routinely crash, …

California Judge Breyer Expected to Combine, Expedite VW Diesel Claims

A San Francisco judge who is the brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will oversee more than 500 consumer lawsuits against Volkswagen AG over claims of economic losses connected to rigged emissions-testing software. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer …

Anadarko’s $160 Million Fine for 2010 Gulf Oil Spill Falls Well Below What U.S. Sought

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. was ordered to pay almost $160 million for its role as part-owner of the doomed Gulf of Mexico well that in 2010 caused the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The fine was the last big …

Volkswagen Wants 350 Diesel Fraud Claims Consolidated

Volkswagen AG is maneuvering to steer hundreds of class-action lawsuits over its emissions-cheating software to the court nearest its current U.S. headquarters or to Detroit, its former location. The automaker asked a panel of federal judges to combine the more …

BP’s Oil Spill Settlement with Gulf States, U.S. Tops $20 Billion

The value of BP Plc’s settlement with the U.S. government and five Gulf states over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill rose to $20.8 billion in the latest tally of costs from the U.S. Department of Justice. The settlement is the …

U.S. Investors Sue Volkswagen Over Diesel Emissions Scandal

Volkswagen AG was accused in a lawsuit of scheming to defraud U.S. investors who paid artificially inflated prices for the company’s foreign shares while it cheated on vehicle emissions tests. In what may be the first investor suit over Volkswagen’s …

Drivers Convicted, Jailed for Crashes Now Blamed on Car Defects

Lakisha Ward-Green spent three months in jail after she lost control of her Chevrolet Cobalt, killing her teenage passenger. Last week, a Pennsylvania judge, citing “newly discovered evidence” erased her guilty plea. The new evidence: the February 2014 recall by …