AUTOS

U.S. Judge Denies VW Motion to Dismiss GM Suit: U.S. District Judge Nance Edmunds allowed a General Motors Corp. lawsuit--which alleges the German auto maker stole corporate secrets--to proceed in Detroit. She denied a motion from Volkswagen to dismiss on grounds that it duplicates a lawsuit filed in Germany. GM’s lawsuit alleges that VW’s top production chief, Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, and several other executives stole trade secrets when they moved to VW in March 1993. Lopez had been GM’s top purchasing executive when he abruptly left to join the German auto maker. The ruling could mean that top VW executives, including Chairman Ferdinand Piech, could be forced to testify in GM’s hometown. It could also expose VW to the more lenient rules of discovery allowed by U.S. courts.