GM Fund’s Approved Death Claims Climbs to 27

Three more death claims have been approved by the fund General Motors Co. set up three months ago to pay compensation for deaths and injuries linked to the company's defective ignition switches.

The fund has so far decided that 27 death and 25 injury claims are eligible for payments, up from 24 and 16 applications, respectively, a week ago. GM initially estimated that 13 fatalities could be attributed to the 2.6 million switches it began recalling in February.

The total number of applications received climbed 20% to 1,371 in the past week, according to the fund. It has rejected about 100 claims so far and continues to assess the others. The fund will accept applications through the end of this year.