GM Tallies 388 Ignition Switch Lawsuits

General Motors Co. faces at least 388 lawsuits involving claims related to its defective ignition switches, Bloomberg News reports.

GM tells the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it is defending 104 individual death or injury lawsuits in the U.S. It faces another 108 complaints of lost resale value, which appear likely to be combined as a class-action lawsuit.

An additional 156 lawsuits have been combined in a federal court in New York City. GM is defending another 20 complaints of lost economic value in Canada.

The company contends it is immune from some of the claims because terms of its bankruptcy restructuring in 2009 shield "new" GM from liabilities incurred by the previous entity.

GM so far has disposed of 128 other claims of death or injury through the victim compensation program it launched last August. The fund continues to assess nearly 2,100 more applications.

Last year GM recalled 2.6 million cars to replace ignition switches that could abruptly cut engine power and disable the vehicle's power brakes, power steering and airbag systems. The company reported earlier this week it spent $2.9 billion in 2014 on repairs and loaner vehicles for that campaign and 83 others involving more than 30 million cars and trucks worldwide.