Another death has been added to the toll from accidents involving General Motors cars with a defective ignition switch.þþTwenty-four of the death claims filed to the company’s victim compensation program have been deemed eligible for payment, according to a weekly update posted on the program’s website.þþThe program is being run by Kenneth R. Feinberg, the lawyer who has overseen compensation funds for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings, the Virginia Tech shootings and other disasters.þþG.M. has given Mr. Feinberg sole discretion to determine the number of eligible claims for deaths and injuries associated with the faulty switch, which can cause power to cut out in a moving car, disabling air bags, power steering and power brakes. G.M. recalled 2.6 million cars that could have the faulty switch this year, more than a decade after engineers inside the company first spotted a problem.þþAs of last Friday, the compensation fund had received 1,130 claims, 165 of them for wrongful deaths. Most of the claims are still under review, many of them with requests for more evidence. The latest update showed no change from the previous week in the number of injury claims declared eligible — 16 over all.
Source: NY Times
