GM Is Ordered to Address Charges of Auto Defects

A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles, advancing a case filed nearly two years ago, has ordered General Motors Corp. to answer complaints raised in a class-action lawsuit alleging that the auto maker sold vehicles with defective transaxles, lawyers said.

The suit, Maggiora vs. GM, was filed by Glendale-based law firm Taylor & Hodges in November, 1991, on behalf of a statewide class of owners and lessees of GM front-wheel-drive vehicles with engines larger than 2.8 liters, and designed and made and distributed between 1985 and 1990.

Taylor & Hodges alleges that the transaxle problem causes transmission failure, but the law firm said it was unaware of any injuries or deaths resulting from such a failure.

Ed Lechtzin, a GM spokesman in Detroit, said the judge’s order means the case will now proceed to the discovery phase. Nonetheless, he said that the lawsuit is “without any merit and that there is no basis for a class action.”

Taylor & Hodges is seeking, among other things, to have GM repay consumers for costs incurred because of problems related to the alleged defect, and pay damages and court and attorney costs. The number of potential plaintiffs and vehicles involved is unknown, Taylor & Hodges said.