General Motors reportedly overhauled its legal department to prevent delays on recall announcements in the future.
According to sources of Bloomberg, General Counsel Michael Millikin tapped a legal adviser to change the process of information-sharing about defects to make the message relay faster between departments. The legal adviser will be working with heads of global safety and vehicle development on the issue.
Millikin is also reportedly expecting more changes as soon as an internal investigation conclude in the next weeks. Anton Valukas, chairman of the Jenner & Block LLC law firm is leading the investigation along with Millikin.
GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra initiated the company's internal makeover as early as January of this year. The company's legal department was part of the initial overhaul, with North America General Counsel Lucy Clark Dougherty now advising the newly appointed head of global safety, Jeff Boyer, on legal matters. The engineering, communications, human resources and public policy teams were also overhauled.
Barra admitted to a Senate panel in April that initial findings of the investigation found that information in one part of the company was not communicated effectively across other departments.
GM recently recalled 2.4 million cars and trucks, with 218,000 Aveo 2004 to 2008 models recently added to the list of faulty vehicles. The company has already made 29 recalls since January, starting with the recall of 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, along with other small models. The cars had a defective ignition switch linked to 13 deaths. To date, GM made a total recall of 13.6 million cars.
The federal government is currently investigating the reason for the company's delayed recall of the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion cars. It took the company over ten years to announce a recall due to defective ignition switches that could be jolted into "off" or "accessory" positions, which could disable the vehicles' power and air bags.
