General Motors Settles Class Action regarding Dex-Cool Coolant

It took almost 5 years of litigation, but GM has finally decided to pay up for a significant problem it created in its cars. GM used an engine coolant in about 30 models of its cars which caused significant engine problems in these vehicles. As a result, owners were having to pay for repairs which were caused by a product GM choose to put in these cars. It started with model year 1995 and includes popular models Olds Cutlass and Chevy Impala. It is reported by the plaintiff’s attorneys representing the class that each consumer will recieve back about 50% of the cost of the repair due to the problematic engine coolant.
My only thought on this is why did this have to take so long? Almost 5 years of litigation when surely GM knew early on it had a problem it had to fix. And yes, it is reported that the plaintiff’s lawyers involved in this litigation will receive a fee that will be split among many lawyers and law firms of up to $16.5 million. But I promise you, the firms involved in defending GM, billing by the hour, at an hourly rate of at least $250 per hour, made gobs and gobs of money off this litigation. So don’t let that old standard line about the only winners in this litigation is the plaintiff’s attorneys fool you. The lawyers representing GM and the corporate world, with tens, if not hundreds of lawyers working for them on just this litigation, make out like bandits. And behind closed doors they will tell you they rely on litigation like this to make the huge incomes necessary to keep the lawyers for GM going.