GM Is Accused of Derailing $1 Billion Accord With Plaintiffs

By Erik Larson, Bloomberg News

General Motors Co. was accused of secretly plotting to derail a $15 million settlement between the company’s bankruptcy trust and thousands of plaintiffs that would have forced it to contribute $1 billion in stock.

In a letter filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, lawyers for the plaintiffs said GM conspired with the trust to block the accord after previously accusing the trust and the plaintiffs of similar behavior in reaching the deal last week.

GM “undertook a secret, contrived scheme to undermine the settlement agreement through a campaign of threats, intimidation and payoffs,” ...