Item 1.02. | Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement. |
As previously disclosed, including in its Quarterly Report onForm 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2018, the Motors Liquidation Company GUC Trust (the “GUC Trust”) is involved in litigation concerning purported economic losses, personal injuries and/or death suffered by certain lessees and owners of vehicles (such persons, the “Potential Plaintiffs”) manufactured by General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”) prior to the sale of substantially all the assets of Old GM to NGMCO, Inc., n/k/a General Motors LLC (“New GM”). Certain of the Potential Plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against New GM, have filed motions seeking authority from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) to file claims against the GUC Trust (the “Late Claims Motions”), and/or are members of a putative class covered by those actions. Also as previously disclosed, on February 1, 2019, the GUC Trust and certain of the Potential Plaintiffs (the “Signatory Plaintiffs”) executed a Settlement Agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) to, among other things, resolve the Late Claims Motions filed by certain Plaintiffs and provide for estimation of the Signatory Plaintiffs’ claims and the Signatory Plaintiffs’ rights to the GUC Trust’s assets.
On August 6, 2019, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Bankruptcy Court issued a decision (the “Furman Decision”) granting partial summary judgment in favor of General Motors in the GM Ignition Switch Litigation (MDL No. 2543). See In re Gen. Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litig., No.14-MC-2543 (JMF), 2019 WL 3564698, at *17 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 6, 2019). In the Furman Decision, the court concluded that the Potential Plaintiffs’ expert damages report (the “Boedeker Report”) was incapable of proving class-wide damages under a“benefit-of-the-bargain” theory. The Furman Decision cast doubt on the Potential Plaintiffs’ ability to certify a class, which the Bankruptcy Court had previously determined was a prerequisite to the Settlement Agreement being approved. At a hearing on August 12, 2019, the Bankruptcy Court expressed its view that the Furman Decision had called into serious question whether the proposed settlement could be approved.
As a result of the foregoing, on September 25, 2019, pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the GUC Trust delivered notice to the Signatory Plaintiffs of its election to terminate the Settlement Agreement immediately.
This description is a summary of key terms only, and does not purport to describe all terms of the Settlement Agreement and the Settlement Agreement is incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Current Report onForm 8-K filed by the GUC Trust on February 7, 2019.