Official GM Ignition Death Tally Rises to 36

At least 36 people have lost their lives due to accidents caused by defective ignition switches in General Motors vehicles. The number of death claims approved for settlement from GM’s $400-600 million victims’ compensation fund rose one from 35 a week ago, according to the report released Monday by attorney and compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. The number of claims for serious injuries remained unchanged from a week before at 44. Since it began accepting death and injury claims on August 1 of this year, Feinberg’s office has received 2,215 claims for deaths and injuries alleged to be caused by the ignition defect. Last month Feinberg extended the deadline for submitting claims to the independently run fund for one month to January 31, 2015 from December 31, 2014.