Law531 Irac Brief

IRAC Method Case Analysis

Student

Law/531 Business Law

4/14/2014

Professor

General Motors Analysis

Case: General Motors are facing several lawsuits for vehicular accidents caused by faulty parts on several of their models. GM leadership was aware of a possible faulty part issue as early as 2006, but did not take action until 2013. General Motors Company knew that the ignition switches in several of their car models were faulty but the company did not fix the issues. Some reasons cited for not initiating a recall on these vehicles were due the financial expense to carry out. In fact several employees from within the company tried to cover up the issues.

Issue: Is General Motors negligent for failing to correct a defective parts issue on several vehicles.

Rule: To be negligent a person fails to take proper or normal care of something or someone; failing to exercise the care expected of a reasonably prudent person in like circumstances (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 2014). To be negligent a person is liable for harm that is the foreseeable consequence of his or her actions (Cheeseman, 2013).

Analysis: As a car company that responsible for producing the best quality and safest vehicles for the customer General Motors was informed that the company was placing faulty ignition switches in several vehicle models. General Motors have the greater responsibility of providing safe and quality vehicle to consumers for purchase. Some GM executives knew as early as 2006 there was a safety issue with the ignition switch on several of their vehicle. “According to Bloomberg, federal safety regulators first asked GM in 2007, a year after the secret part switch, about issues involving the Cobalt” (Maynard, 2014). When people started to complain and return vehicles several engineers alerted the company that the switches needed to be changed. The company never followed up on the change request made and people continued to get injured and the cars continued...