A bankruptcy judge in Manhattan has refused to weigh in on a long-running dispute between General Motors and the United Auto Workers, saying that while he has jurisdiction over the case, he “brings nothing to the table” and the case should be decided in a federal court in Michigan.
Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber ruled last week in In re Motors Liquidation Co., 09-50026, that although he approved the agreement between the auto company and the union that lies at the heart of the dispute, he was not familiar with its details, and that Judge Avern Cohn of Michigan’s Eastern District, who is presiding over a lawsuit involving the same dispute, “could decide the controversy at least as well as I could.” The Michigan suit was stayed pending Judge Gerber’s ruling.
