GM Loses Bid to Dismiss Revived Ignition Switch Lawsuit

A state judge in Georgia has rejected General Motors Co.'s attempt to halt the reopening of a lawsuit that helped trigger the company's recall of 2.6 million cars with defective ignition switches.

The case, which was settled last September, involved the death of Brooke Melton in a crash of a Chevrolet Cobalt small car in 2010.

GM argued that the lawsuit cannot be reopened after being settled. Melton's parents contend that GM fraudulently concealed the Cobalt's ignition switch flaw and withheld other evidence to reach the original agreement.

Judge Kathryn Tanksley agreed with Melton's parents, adding that the claim of fraud is "plowing new ground." She also rejected GM's assertion that the new lawsuit cannot go forward because the original judgment hasn't been reversed. Tanksley says that argument doesn't apply because the initial agreement was settled out of court. She set a new trial date for April 2016.

In the meantime, the judge has ordered GM to begin turning over documents about its prior knowledge of the defect to the Meltons by Sept. 26.

More than 100 other lawsuits about the ignition switch defect have been combined in a federal court in New York City. Those complaints have been blocked from conducting similar data gathering until the court decides whether GM is shielded from such cases by the terms of its bankruptcy.