The sacking of the employees comes as the result of an investigation by Anton Valukas, chair of law firm Jenner & Block, into the internal handling of the defects which caused the problems in the vehicles. Problems with the ignition switch had a disastrous effect, leading to loss of control by the driver in some cases. Plaintiff lawyers say that 60 people died as a result although GM puts the total at 13. 

Failed to disclose

Mary Barra, GM chief executive, did not name any of the legal team which had been fired but said: ‘Repeatedly, individuals failed to disclose critical pieces of information that could have fundamentally changed the lives of those impacted by a faulty ignition switch. If this information had been disclosed, I believe in my heart the company would have dealt with this matter appropriately….The ignition-switch issue was touched by numerous parties at GM – engineers, investigators, lawyers – but nobody raised the problem to the highest levels of the company.’  Source: ABA