General Motors will pay compensation for 19 deaths linked to a faulty ignition switch, which is more than the 13 deaths the automaker previously admitted were caused by the now recalled part.
Attorney Ken Feinberg, who is overseeing a compensation fund for victims of GM cars, has linked 19 deaths to a serious flaw with the ignition switches, a problem that went unreported for more than a decade after company engineers discovered it, according to CNNMoney.
Feinberg has received 125 claims for death so far and 320 for injuries in the five weeks he has been overseeing the fund. Of those received, he has found 31 eligible for compensation.
Most of the remaining cases still need to be reviewed, according to CNNMoney. He has denied fewer than a dozen claims.
"Already there are more deaths than GM said from day one," Feinberg said to CNNMoney. "Of course there will be additional eligible deaths; how many is pure speculation, but there will be eligible death claims."
Cars with the defective part can slip out of the "run" position, which stalls the vehicle and disables the airbags.
Victims' fund deputy administrator, Camille Biros, said expanding the number to 19 is a result of taking more evidence into account. Such evidence could include photos of a crash involving a vehicle with the defective part.
"The standard that GM used for their determination was an engineering standard. We have a much more liberal standard that we are applying," Biros said, according to Reuters.
Biros has not named the families of the victims who will be offered compensation.
"Compensation for those who were injured varies from $20,000 for the least serious injuries to $500,000 for victims who spent more than a month in the hospital," CNNMoney reported.
Claimants need to prove the ignition switch was a "proximate cause" of the accident they were involved in, according to Feinberg.
"We're applying a legal standard," he said. "The 13 was an engineering conclusion."
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