YINGLING V. GENERAL MOTORS CASE SUMMARY
CONCLUSIONS: In April 2016, General Motors reached a confidential settlement with the Pittsburgh-based law firm Pribanic & Pribanic in a wrongful death lawsuit: filed on behalf of the family of James E. Yingling III – a Pennsylvania man killed in a November 2013 one-vehicle crash. The case was selected as the third in a series of bellwether trials related to the company’s extensive recall of defective ignition switches. General Motors won the first two bellwether cases, but days before the Yingling case was expected to go to trial, General Motors offered a settlement that both Mr. Yingling’s widow, Nadia, and lead attorney Victor Pribanic found acceptable.
YINGLING V. GENERAL MOTORS OFFICIAL COURT DOCUMENT
YINGLING V. GENERAL MOTORS ARTICLES PUBLISHED ON PRIBANIC.COM/BLOG
Pribanic & Pribanic Wrongful Death Suit Against GM Defective Ignition Switch will be First to Trial in U.S. District Court of Southern NY
PUBLISHED AUGUST 10, 2015: A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Pribanic & Pribanic against General Motors on behalf of the family of James E. Yingling III was recently selected to be the first of the ignition switch defect cases to trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The GM ignition defect involves multiple models and model years and causes a driver to lose steering capacity and braking capacity. It also causes a failure of the airbags in spite of significant frontal damage to the vehicle if the motor turns off – which it does far too easily. That combination almost guarantees a serious crash and serious injury or death to the operator.
The Estate of James E. Yingling III v. General Motors, which is believed to be the first wrongful death or injury action filed in Pennsylvania against the automaker relating to this defective ignition switch, will go to trial Jan. 11, 2016.
Pribanic & Pribanic Announces Settlement with GM Over Faulty Ignition Switch that Allegedly Killed PA Man
PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 18, 2016: The Pittsburgh-based law firm Pribanic & Pribanic announced it has reached a confidential settlement with General Motors in a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of James E. Yingling III – a Pennsylvania man killed in a November 2013 one-vehicle crash.
The case was selected as one of six bellwether trials in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and it was the third in line to proceed to trial following the company’s extensive recall of defective ignition switches in more than a million Cobalts, Saturns, and other vehicles.
The Yingling case was originally filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
According to a recent New York Times article, it was the one in which GM “had the most to lose.”