通用汽车聘请王牌律师应对大规模召回事件

    因可能的点火开关缺陷，通用汽车公司(General Motors)正在大规模召回汽车。这家汽车制造商已经聘请肯尼斯•范伯格担任顾问，希望这位备受瞩目的律师能够就如何应对汽车事故受害者家庭等问题提供专业建议。范伯格曾经处理过911恐怖袭击事件和英国石油公司(BP)墨西哥湾漏油事故的赔偿问题。

    General Motors (GM) has hired Kenneth Feinberg, the high-profile attorney who handled compensation issues related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as a consultant to advise the automaker how to respond to families of accident victims whose vehicles are being recalled for possible ignition switch defects.

    4月1日接受众议院监督与调查小组委员会(House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations)听证会质询时，通用汽车公司首席执行官玛丽•芭拉宣布该公司已经聘请范伯格担任顾问。听证会的重点是审查这起因点火开关故障而启动的汽车召回事件，以及为什么通用汽车拖延了将近10年的时间才披露这样一个至少跟13起死亡事故有关的安全隐患。

    范伯格拥有“丰富的经验，他将评估接下来应该采取什么步骤，”芭拉在听证会上说。

    范伯格计划在周五会见通用汽车高管。芭拉告诉议员，范伯格作出初步评估估计需要30至60天。

    伊利诺斯州民主党众议员简•夏科夫斯基敦促芭拉回答，通用汽车是否会对那些在驾驶因点火开关故障而被召回的汽车时受伤或死亡的人负责。

    虽然芭拉并没有说通用汽车对这些死亡事故负有全部责任，但她表示，通用汽车公司承认“我们有法律和道义责任。”

    范伯格最近帮助处理过波士顿马拉松爆炸案的赔偿问题。他已经获得通用汽车的授权，负责审议与点火开关故障相关的各项问题的应对之策。

    此外，这家汽车制造商还聘请了前联邦检察官安东•沃卢卡斯调查通用汽车的行为。沃卢卡斯领衔的调查行动目前正在进行中，芭拉说。2009年，沃卢卡斯曾经被任命为雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers)破产案的审查官。

    芭拉说她正在接收沃卢卡斯提供的实时更新资料，但她在听证会上并没有透露关于初步调查结果的任何信息。

    本周早些时候，出于对电动助力转向系统有可能突然失灵的关切，通用汽车宣布召回在美国售出的130万辆汽车。上周五，通用汽车再次因点火开关故障额外召回美国市场的82.4万辆汽车，涵盖雪佛兰科宝Cobalt和HHR，庞蒂亚克G5和Solstice，以及土星Ion和Sky等品牌所有年份的车型，原因是有故障的开关可能被使用过。截至目前，因点火开关故障启动的召回计划已经涉及美国市场的219万辆汽车。

    通用汽车周一还宣布，它已经将第一季度用以支付召回汽车维修费用的拨备增加了一倍以上，增至7.5亿美元。这个数额包括此前披露的3亿美元拨备，这3亿美元是为了应对3月17日宣布的3起安全行动和2月25日宣布的点火开关故障召回计划。

    截至目前，由于电动助力转向系统、点火开关和其他3项安全问题，通用汽车在美国召回的汽车总数已经超过500万辆。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    GM CEO Mary Barra announced that the company had retained Feinberg during her testimony before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing today. The point of the hearing is to review the ignition switch recall and why it took GM nearly 10 years to reveal an ignition switch problem that has been linked to at least 13 deaths.

    Feinberg has "extensive experience and he will assess what the next step should be," Barra said during the hearing.

    Feinberg is scheduled to meet with GM executives Friday. Barra told legislators it will take 30 to 60 days for Feinberg to make his initial assessment.

    Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) pressed Barra on whether it would take responsibility for those injured or killed while driving vehicles being recalled for ignition switch failure.

    While Barra would not say GM took full responsibility for the deaths, she said the automaker recognizes "we have legal and moral responsibilities."

    Feinberg, who most recently advised on compensation issues related to the Boston Marathon bombing, has been mandated to consider the options for dealing with issues surrounding the ignition switch matter.

    GM has also hired former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas to investigate its actions. The investigation by Valukas, who was appointed examiner in the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2009, is currently underway, Barra said.

    While Barra said she is receiving updates from Valukas, she did not share any information on any initial findings during the hearing.

    Earlier this week, GM announced a separate recall of 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S. over concerns they may experience a sudden loss of electric power steering. On Friday, GM extended its ignition switch recall by another 824,000 vehicles to cover all model years of the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G5 and Solstice, and the Saturn Ion and Sky in the U.S. because faulty switches may have been used. In all, the ignition switch recall affects 2.19 million vehicles in the United States.

    GM also announced Monday that it has more than doubled its first-quarter charge to $750 million to cover the cost of recall-related repairs. This amount includes a previously disclosed $300 million charge for three safety actions announced March 17 and the ignition switch recall announced Feb. 25.

    GM's total number of recalled vehicles in the U.S., including the power steering issue, ignition switch, and three other safety issues, has now surpassed 5 million.