GM to Settle Case Over Gas Tank Explosion
From Staff and Wire Reports
General Motors Corp. agreed to settle on undisclosed terms a case that had led to a $1.2-billion punitive-damage verdict over a 1993 car fire.
GM spokeswoman Brenda Rios said the company was “pleased with the settlement,” but she declined to provide details.
A Los Angeles jury in July 1999 awarded $4.9 billion, at the time the largest personal injury award in the U.S., to six people badly burned when the gas tank of their 1979 Chevrolet Malibu exploded. The vehicle was rear-ended at a South-Central L.A. stoplight by a car going 50 to 70 mph.
A trial judge later reduced the award to $1.2 billion, and the case was on appeal.
