New evidence of possible plaintiff fraud derails GM bellwether case; voluntary dismissal is filed
A real-estate agent who contacted General Motors last week has derailed a bellwether case against the automaker over an ignition switch defect.
A notice of voluntary dismissal (PDF), with prejudice, was filed on Friday after GM sought to add the real-estate agent and a forensics technology expert as witnesses. The automaker said in a court filing (PDF) on Tuesday that the witnesses would raise questions about “apparent fraud” in the case filed by Robert and Lisa Scheuer.
The Scheuers had claimed GM’s ignition problem prevented air bags from deploying in a May 2014 accident that left Robert Scheuer unconscious for about three hours, report the New York Law Journal (sub. req.), Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
Robert Scheuer had testified he and his wife were unable to buy their dream home because memory loss from the accident caused him to misplace a check for the down payment. They had moved into the home before the purchase, but were evicted after the closing didn’t take place.
But the Tulsa, Oklahoma, real-estate agent told GM lawyers that Robert Scheuer, a mail carrier, apparently altered or fabricated a check stub from his federal retirement fund as proof of funds for the home sale. The actual check amount was $431.72, but the alteration made it appear as $441,431.71, GM says. The realtor had contacted GM after hearing a radio account of the trial.
GM lawyers said they also planned to add a second witness who would verify the authenticity of text messages between Scheuer and the realtor, which would undermine Robert Scheuer’s claim of being incapacitated after the accident.
During Robert Scheuer’s testimony in the case, GM lawyers had asked him about surgeries for pre-existing back and neck injuries and calls he made to his voice mail at the time he was supposedly unconscious after the accident, according to the New York Law Journal account.
The Scheuers have hired criminal defense lawyers.
In court on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of Manhattan said he had to assume the couple had committed “a fraud on the court and on the jury,” according to the New York Law Journal report. He urged settlement talks rather than a continuation of the case.
Lawyer Robert Hilliard is the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. “All lawyers in the case are learning of this [new information] in real time,” he told the New York Law Journal. “I think the judge is rightfully aggravated and he’s not the only one.”
