From the Wall Street Journal today it is reported that a U.S. district court judge will hear arguments in February over the fate of Spykers $3 billion lawsuit against GM. The suit claims Saab was forced into bankruptcy after GM blocked a financial deal that would have saved the company.
Judge Gershwin Drain of the U.S. District Court in Detroit agreed on Thursday to hear arguments from lawyers for Saab and GM beginning Feb. 19.
It is clear that Spyker will get their day in court and the biggest issue to be argued will be wether or not a deal with Youngman would have changed control or transfer of GM technology.
This is not so much NEVS related but very much so SAAB/GM related and something that I will be following to finally get some closure to GM blockage that severely hurt our brand and so much more. Click the link to read the full article on the WSJ.
Gershwin Drain…..only in America do you come across names like that!
Appointed by Barack Obama… (champion of ‘Government motors ‘ )
Drain is a part of the Michigan Judges Association, the Wolverine Bar Association, Association of Black Judges of Michigan, the Michigan Bar Association, a Prison Ministry for the Mound Correctional Facility, and is a lifetime member of the NAACP.
Previously, Drain was a member of the Criminal Jury Instruction Committee, a Law Day speaker for the Criminal Law Section, the Prisons & Corrections Committee, Detroit/Wayne County Criminal Advocacy Board of Directors Instructor, and the Michigan Task Force and National Board of Directors.[1]
Appointed by Barack H. Obama—-and will hear a case where Obama’s car company is being sued. Hmmmm….can you say “biased.”?
Thanks Jason, I was just about wondering if there was any news about the lawsuit. In Dutch media today there was news about the spyker/ youngman cooperation. And , yes, I do think that in times where there isn’t much Saab news, it is nice to read about those kind of story’s . After al in a way it’s part of the Saab saga. I hope victor winns.
yes, Youngman-Spyker deal has created a big stir in China auto industry. the deal includes: 1. Youngman acquired 29.9% stakes into Spyker 2. Youngman and Spyker JV” Spyker P2P”, 3. Youngman Spyker JV “Spyker Phoenix”, 4. Youngman Spyker JV” Spyker Trademark”. seems this is not only a simple JV deal, but Youngman Spyker full integration worldwide. seems Spyker one day may become 100% subsidiary of Youngman. Mr. Muller did show up and spoke highly of Youngman and their bright future.
Just wish Saab All the success in this case against GM. Hopefully GM gets nailed down. That would make my day!
would make my year, it’s just wrong that they would do what they did on so many levels.
Just don’t see Spyker getting very far here. This sounds like an argument on GM’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Those motions are usually denied. Then the parties will spend a few years taking discovery, which is very expensive for Spyker to fund, but peanuts for GM. And when Spyker is financially exhausted, GM will throw a few million at Spyker and call it a day. That’s my prediction. But this is all still fresh in our minds. GM wanted to close down Saab – it didn’t want to sell it. If GM wanted to sell Saab to the Chinese, it would have done so. They certainly didn’t need Victor to sell it to the Chinese for them. Just don’t see this going anywhere – particularly when it comes out that Victor’s goal all along was to flip it to the Chinese. Which, ultimately, happened. ,
Let’s just cross our fingers, wait and see.
If it ultimately happened—-what difference would it have made if it happened a year ago? I maintain that it was less about GM competing for sales in China and more about GM not wanting to be exposed as buffoons when an upstart could make something out of a car division that they floundered with for two decades. It was ego.
You might be right but than GM needs to bleed while you do not destroy someone’s business just for your ego; that will be punished in court.
Also in New York today a Judge is pondering revoking GM’s bailout!
http://freebeacon.com/bailout-on-the-brink/
All done conveniently after the US election.
Just a thought.
I think the results of the election decreases the chance that Saab could get traction in this case (no pun intended). I think the U.S. President has a vested interest in protecting GM financially (which is tragic in its own right—-that he has such a PERSONAL interest in GM). As well, it wouldn’t surprise me if some in the administration have a close relationship with this judge.
Scand,
At least the judges’ name is not Ralph Lipschitz, lol. The quintisential question: When and if Saab wins a settlement, how will this effect the state of Saab as we know it? Who recovers the damages from the suit?
Thanks.
How will this affect saab? It won’t. If they win, 90 percent of the winnings go to mr V.Muller’s Spyker along with his unnamed ‘investor’, who wasnt harmed, but who has simply made a bet on the outcome of the lawsuit.
The whole thing is farcical . Spyker bought the company of their own free will, but were out of their depth, didnt have the money, had a business plan that wasn’t achievable and somehow this is GM’s problem? I don’t get it.
Long story short: GM forced Youngman to withdraw their investment offer, without having any legal rights what so ever to do that. In other words, GM did not only manage to hinder a bright future for Saab but also violating their own agreements with Spyker by claiming that “investing is equal to buying”… which it is not.
Wondering how a Obama appointed judge….that just happened to support GMs robbery of our tax money will decide? One thing for certain..The truth always has away of coming out, GM will pay one way or another!
Yeah, I was taken back by that a little. Was a Obama appointed, GM bailout supporting judge seriously assigned to this hearing?
How is this not a conflict of interest? Willing to say that you won’t need a time machine to figure out how this will turn out.
I don’t think VM seriously thinks he has any chance of winning any type of settlement from GM – its about principles. I’m guessing he has the support of someone with deep pockets to see the case through because this case is going nowhere in GM’s backyard.
Wow.