A defective ignition switch has caused General Motors a great amount of grief. Over the course of 10 years, the defective part led to more than a dozen deaths and numerous injuries before GM identified the problem, initiated a recall process and instituted a compensation plan for victims, an ordeal estimated to eventually cost the company over $9 billion, according to a July 5 article in Automotive News, “Just how much will recall storm cost GM?“
As part of this process, GM hired Jenner & Block chairman Anton Valukas, a former U.S. Attorney, to conduct an extensive internal investigation of the company and its actions. Valukas and his team interviewed numerous former and current GM employees and reviewed millions of pages of documents before issuing the damning, 315-page report in late May.
