Feinberg May Head Takata Compensation Plan

Kenneth Feinberg may be tapped after all to manage payments of nearly $1 billion by Takata Corp. to carmakers who installed its explosion-prone airbag inflators and passengers who were victims of the devices.

He managed a similar plan funded by General Motors Co. to compensate victims of its defective ignition switches. He also administered payments to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Last December Volkswagen AG retained Feinberg to create and oversee a claims program for its U.S. customers whose diesel-powered cars were rigged to cheat on emission tests. But he said in February he could not proceed until the regulators accepted a repair plan for the targeted 4- and 6-cylinder diesels.

Meanwhile, Takata and the U.S. Dept. of Justice recommended in January that Feinberg head the Takata compensation fund. The company’s inflators have been blamed for killing at least 16 people and injuring 180 others, according to a Reuters tally.

But U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh announced in April that he intended to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller to head the Takata fund. Last month Mueller said he couldn’t accept the assignment after being chosen as special counsel to head the Justice Dept.’s investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

Steeh says Mueller willingly gave up “millions of dollars” in fees to run the federal probe. The judge’s staff says he has not decided on an alternate administrator for the Takata program.