GM facing Canadian class-action lawsuit; insurer already making payments related to missing Malaysian plane; Toyota agrees record $1.2 billion settlement on criminal charge.
Canadian class-action suit launched against General Motors
Canadian class-action law firm is going after General Motors for the automaker's handling of defective ignition switches in 1.6 million small cars worldwide, including about 235,000 cars sold in this country.
The firm seeks to represent and compensate people across Canada for defects in various models of small cars with the defective switch, used between about 2003 and 2007.
Merchant Law Group LLP filed claims against the Detroit-based auto maker last week in Ontario and Quebec courts.
GM announced last month that ignition switches in older models of the Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5s, Saturn Ion, Chevrolet HHR, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky need to be repaired.
Those are the vehicles that form the basis of the Canadian suit against General Motors.
Allianz already making payments for missing plane
German insurance company Allianz had begun making initial payments in connection with the missing Malaysian Airlines plane last week before debris from the crash site had been located.
Allianz's global head of communication Hugo Kidston confirmed on Wednesday that the Munich-based insurer and “other co-reinsurers of Malaysia Airlines aviation hull and liability policy have made initial payments.” (continued.)
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The payments were in line with normal market practice and contractual obligations when an aircraft is reported as missing, said Kidston.
Details on who has received the money and how much has been paid out were not released.
Search crews from 26 countries are looking for the plane that vanished early March 8 with 239 people aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Toyota settles with U.S. on criminal fraud charge
Washington announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. and filed a criminal charge alleging the company defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
Attorney General Eric Holder said it is the largest financial penalty of its kind ever imposed on an auto company. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, an independent monitor will review policies, practices and procedures at the company.
The action concludes a four-year criminal investigation into the Japanese automaker's disclosure of safety problems, which focused on whether Toyota was forthright in reporting problems related to unintended acceleration troubles.
“Rather than promptly disclosing and correcting safety issues,” Holder told a news conference, “Toyota made misleading public statements to consumers and gave inaccurate facts to members of Congress.” (continued.)
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“We took full responsibility for any concerns our actions may have caused customers, and we rededicated ourselves to earning their trust,” said Christopher P. Reynolds, chief legal officer of Toyota Motor North America. “In the more than four years since these recalls, we have gone back to basics at Toyota to put our customers first.”
A statement from Toyota said it had made fundamental changes to become a more responsive and customer-focused organization, and we are committed to continued improvements.
Canadians aware, but not taking precautions for severe weather
While most Canadians think climate change will cause severe weather to occur more frequently, few are taking measures to protect their homes from extreme events, according to a new RBC study.
Based on the company’s annual Water Attitude Study, which polled just over 2,000 Canadians earlier this year, 74 per cent of Canadians agree that climate change will cause more frequent extreme weather events.
However, only 23 per cent said they were concerned about extreme weather causing droughts or flooding, and only 9 per cent have taken precautionary measures to protect themselves and their homes from the effects of extreme weather events, according to RBC.
In general, people do perceive floods to be more prevalent in Canada than a decade ago, and 21 per cent said they live in an area vulnerable to flooding, states RBC.
But more than half of Canadians still prefer paved driveways, and even when presented with facts about gravel and interlocking stones helping to prevent flooding, 55 per cent still said they wouldn’t change their mind about pavement.
“There's no question that 2013 was the ‘year of the urban flood’ for Canadians,” says Bob Sandford, chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the UN Water for Life Decade. “Extreme floods like the ones we saw in Calgary and Toronto weren't a matter of ‘if,’ they were simply a matter of ‘when.’ So this level of inactivity on the part of Canadians is concerning. You wouldn't go out in a rainstorm without an umbrella. Why wouldn't you try to safeguard your home from the weather, too?”
RBC’s survey also included 134 stakeholders from government, business, NGOs and academia.
