Lance Cooper of The Cooper Firm, acting for plaintiffs, said: 'The documents clearly show they knew it was a safety issue but chose to ignore it. It wasn’t incompetence. It was a cover-up.'  Mr Cooper is one of the most experienced plaintiff lawyers in the motor world, having acted as lead counsel in numerous cases involving GM, Ford Motor Company, Honda, Toyota, Kia, Continental General Tire, Hilton Hotels, and the Department of Transportation. The faulty ignition prevented some vehicles from stopping by cutting power to the engine and power steering and power braking. It was linked to other problems such as air bags which did not open. 

General Counsel 

He made the comments after a settlement was agreed with GM last week and after the announcement that GC at GM, Michael Millikin, is retiring. Inquiries into the involvement of the GM legal team had suggested that lower level lawyers had not told Mr  Millikin what was happening in the ignition case. The comments from Mr Cooper will also be embarrassing for Anton Valukas, chair of Jennery & Block, who was commissioned to write an internal report for GM on the issue and said he found incompetence and neglect rather than attempts at concealment. Source: ABA