General Motors on Thursday said it had settled a wrongful death case that was set to go to trial next month as part of ongoing litigation over the company’s defective ignition switches.
G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, had already won two so-called bellwether trials being conducted to resolve a variety of legal claims tied to its recall two years ago of vehicles equipped with faulty ignitions.
The settlement of the latest case was unexpected, and an indication that G.M. may have wanted to avoid a protracted jury trial involving a fatal accident.
