GM Suing Insurance Carrier Over Asbestos Claims

February, 2007 - General Motors is suing The Royal & Sun Alliance insurance group after being accused of trying to avoid payments to over half a billion dollars in asbestos related claims. The lawsuit was filed in early February of this year in Wilmington Delaware.

The London based insurance group is obligated to make payments on claims that have been against policies that were in place between 1954 and 1971, this according to accusations made by General Motors. In order to avoid making payments, GM also says the insurance company is liquidating operations in the US. As the liquidation of Royal & Sun’s US company continues, GM said it filed the lawsuit so that claims "are not barred by any applicable statutes of limitation." In previous court proceedings, a judge in Michigan stated that the company waited too long to file the lawsuit, so it was thrown out of court; a decision GM plans to appeal.

An official from a subsidiary of Royal & Sun said the new case was the same thing as the Michigan case, but reworked from a potentially different angle. The Arrowpoint Capital spokesperson said, "This is nothing more than the same old argument wrapped up in a new package."

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