Embattled General Motors general counsel Millikin to retire

General Motors said its general counsel, Michael Millikin, will retire early next year.

Millikin, the top legal officer at the automaker, has come under intense scrutiny for the way his department handled death and injury claims for a defective ignition switch now linked to at least 27 fatalities.

Millikin stuck with the company throughout the last year despite criticism from a U.S. Senate committee over how his department handled death and injury claims.

“It is clear that the culture of lawyering up and Whac-a-Mole to minimize liabilities in individual lawsuits killed customers of General Motors,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said during a hearing earlier this year.

Several senators had called for his resignation.

“GM has an opportunity to bring in fresh leadership and sever another tie to the Old GM,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “I hope that Mr. Millikin’s replacement is willing to prioritize driver safety and openness in ways that neither Mr. Millikin nor GM has thus far been willing to do.”

GM faces investigations by the Department of Justice, Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over why it waited years to recall 2.6 million older small cars -- including the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion -- for ignition switch failures.

In those cases, the faulty switch can suddenly shut down the vehicle, turning off crucial functions such as the power steering and air bags.

The automaker knew about the problem for at least a decade but waited until this year to start recalling the cars.

GM accepted blame for the problem earlier this year. An internal investigation cited poor communication and incompetence for the automaker’s failure to recall the cars promptly.

GM CEO Mary Barra has supported Millikin throughout the crisis.

“Mike has had a tremendous career, spanning more than 40 years, with the vast majority of it at GM,” Barra said Friday. “He has led global legal teams through incredibly complex transactions, been a trusted and respected confidant to senior management, and even led the company’s global business response team following the tragedy of 9/11.”

Millikin, 66, will remain in his position until the transition of the new general counsel is complete. He joined GM in 1977 and was named general counsel in 2009.

GM has set up a compensation fund to award payments to ignition switch-linked crash victims and their families. It is administered by another attorney, Kenneth Feinberg, a victims’ compensation consultant hired by GM.

The payments awarded to ignition-switch crash victims vary. For example, Feinberg said, a paralyzed 10-year-old child might get $7.8 million based on lost future earnings, while a parent with two children might receive $4 million after losing a spouse who earned $46,400 a year.

Feinberg is the sole decision maker on the size of the payments. Victims or their heirs give up the right to sue GM to receive the money.

Feinberg started taking claims Aug. 1 and several families have already accepted settlement offers made by the fund. The deadline to submit claims is Dec. 31.

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