(MENAFN- AFP) US automaker General Motors won Wednesday a second trial in the defective ignition-switch scandal, with the jury deciding the flaw had not caused an accident.
After a two-week trial in federal court in Manhattan, the jury concluded that a 2007 Saturn Sky driven by Dionne Sapin had a faulty ignition switch but that was not the cause of the 2014 accident on an icy bridge in New Orleans, awarding no damages in the case.
"The jurors studied the merits of the case and saw the truth: this was a very minor accident that had absolutely nothing to do with the car's ignition switch," GM said in a statement.
Sapin blamed a stall-out of the vehicle for the accident and resulting injuries to her and a passenger. GM said there was overwhelming evidence she lost control on an icy bridge during a state-wide winter weather emergency.
The case is the second of six so-called "bellwether" trials in a New York federal court as attorneys for plaintiffs and General Motors spar in litigation in the wake of the ignition-switch scandal.
Thousands of people have claimed damages linked to the ignition defects, which GM admitted it hid for more than a decade before it began recalling 2.6 million cars worldwide in February 2014. The court is schedule to hear four additional bellwether cases, with the next trial scheduled to begin May 2.
GM spokesman Jim Cain told AFP that the jury's finding that the ignition switch was defective had been "well-established" in government investigations and that GM had recalled the vehicles.
The finding of the defect "is not in and of itself all that surprising," Cain told AFP.
"What was important was that the defect, if there was one, didn't have anything to do with the accident. So therefore the jury couldn't even go to the question of damages because whatever injuries they suffered were not connected to us in any way."
The largest US automaker won the first trial in January when the plaintiff, Robert Scheuer, withdrew the litigation after a federal judge said GM had raised "devastating" questions about the Scheuer case.
Randall Jackson, a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner representing Sapin, called the jury decision "a victory for consumers" that will advance other cases of plaintiffs seeking damages from GM.
"We are pleased that the jury agreed that we proved that our client's vehicle was defective, that it was unreasonably dangerous, and that GM failed to use reasonable care to provide an adequate warning of that danger to consumers, including our clients," Jackson said.
GM shares edged up 0.1 percent to $31.22 in afternoon trade.
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