A New York City jury found that the ignition switch of a GM vehicle was not main cause of the accident that caused the driver and passenger in the vehicle to sustain injuries. However, the jury did deduce that the car was not very safe.
On January 24, 2014, the Plaintiffs were traveling in a 2007 GM vehicle in New Orleans when the vehicle suddenly spun out of control and hit a barrier. The lawsuit filed on their behalf against GM claimed a faulty ignition switch in the vehicle caused the accident that the Plaintiffs sustained injuries in. Attorneys for GM argued that the actual cause of the accident were the icy road conditions. The basis of their argument was that over 30 other vehicles had lost control due to the weather conditions near the same area that same night.
At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found that the GM vehicle was indeed unreasonably dangerous due to the fact that the vehicle had characteristics that could cause damage and deviated from GM safety standards. Despite these findings, the Plaintiffs received no compensation for their injuries because the jurors found that the actual cause of the accident was not a defect in the ignition switch, but indeed the icy road conditions.
