Possible attorney help : Any leads

[COACH_EM_UP]

Good morning and Merry Christmas. Some of you may have seen my post about the wires in my truck catching fire last week. Well, I contacted GM and they said they are not going to pay for or help pay for any of the cost to repair because there is no open recall on the wiring for my truck. GM denied my claim based on the pictures I sent them, without even sending someone to look at the truck.

Anyway, has anyone dealt with this before and how did you resolve the situation? I am thinking about retaining an attorney, but I don't know that it would be worth the hassle or the expense. Does anyone have any leads or know anyone that deals with this type of law or representation?

Thanks in advance.

[perryr]

I did not see the prior post but is the truck still under factory warranty?

[Charles]

Got a link to your previous post?

I would think you would need to prove GM was at fault.

[Bullseye07]

Man I saw the pics of the fire and those wires have been altered quite a bite since leaving the factory.

[Traildust]

Insurance won't pay to have it fixed? You can prolly fix it for a 1/3 of what a lawyer will cost you.

[COACH_EM_UP]

I did not see the prior post but is the truck still under factory warranty?

link to post and it is not under factory warranty. The truck is a 2007.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624479

Got a link to your previous post?

I would think you would need to prove GM was at fault.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624479

Pretty sure GM is at fault, by the design and placement of the wiring harness. I have not touched anything in the truck, electrical, and to me, this is not normal wear and tear for a wiring harness to catch on fire.

Man I saw the pics of the fire and those wires have been altered quite a bite since leaving the factory.

Well, I bought the truck BRAND NEW and can tell you for a fact that I have not messed with and no one has messed with the wiring or anything electrical on the truck. I guess I am confused about your post, but it sounds like you are saying that the harness is not a factory wiring harness and that I might possibly be lying about messing with the wiring. If you could, would you mind elaborating on why you think "those wires have been altered quite a bit since leaving the factory". Just curious why you think that and your expertise on the situation.

Insurance won't pay to have it fixed? You can prolly fix it for a 1/3 of what a lawyer will cost you.

I called insurance and they said that since I dont have full coverage, they wont cover it. I do have my mechanic that is going to re-wire it, but the harness is $962 by itself. Dont know if I will go this route or not, but thought I could get Chevy to pay for some of it, because in my opinion it is a design flaw and not something that should happen on a vehicle. Not normal wear and tear.

[Txjourneyman]

I know this isn't much help but I doubt very much you will find an attorney that will touch this. The fact is it's a 10 year old truck. Things happen.

[Traildust]

link to post and it is not under factory warranty. The truck is a 2007.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624479

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624479

Pretty sure GM is at fault, by the design and placement of the wiring harness. I have not touched anything in the truck, electrical, and to me, this is not normal wear and tear for a wiring harness to catch on fire.



Well, I bought the truck BRAND NEW and can tell you for a fact that I have not messed with and no one has messed with the wiring or anything electrical on the truck. I guess I am confused about your post, but it sounds like you are saying that the harness is not a factory wiring harness and that I might possibly be lying about messing with the wiring. If you could, would you mind elaborating on why you think "those wires have been altered quite a bit since leaving the factory". Just curious why you think that and your expertise on the situation.



I called insurance and they said that since I dont have full coverage, they wont cover it. I do have my mechanic that is going to re-wire it, but the harness is $962 by itself. Dont know if I will go this route or not, but thought I could get Chevy to pay for some of it, because in my opinion it is a design flaw and not something that should happen on a vehicle. Not normal wear and tear.

I feel your pain.....but even thinking GM will even answer the phone on a 10 year old vehicle with a design flaw is laughable (not laughing at your situation)You might have a chance if the truck was a year or two old.......no manufacturer is gonna help you once the vehicle is out of warranty. Lord knows GM electrical designs are flawed.

You may have other issues now too that the system has arc'd out.

[COACH_EM_UP]

I know this isn't much help but I doubt very much you will find an attorney that will touch this. The fact is it's a 10 year old truck. Things happen.

Yeah, I thought about that as well and I agree. I am having a hard time getting past the fact that "wiring catching on fire is just normal wear and tear". That is my hang up on the whole situation. Especially, since I have not touched anything at all electrical on the truck. I could understand if I had installed a new radio, new dash, new electronics, etc., but I dont mess with electrical.

Maybe I should just get a new truck. LOL!

[az2tx]

I seriously doubt you have any recourse against Chevy and who knows who have put their hands under that hood in ten years. Someone doing an oil change or anything could have knocked something lose

[COACH_EM_UP]

I feel your pain.....but even thinking GM will even answer the phone on a 10 year old vehicle with a design flaw is laughable (not laughing at your situation)You might have a chance if the truck was a year or two old.......no manufacturer is gonna help you once the vehicle is out of warranty. Lord knows GM electrical designs are flawed.

You may have other issues now too that the system has arc'd out.

I thought the same thing. I actually did have a case manager, have a case number, and talked to someone on 2 different occasions. I guess I should consider that a WIN in itself. LOL!

I am worried about the other issues as well. I told my wife this morning that I hope nothing else is messed up, because I really dont want to get another truck, but it may come down to it. My mechanic said it could have possibly messed up the ECM, transmission control module, brakes, and other stuff all ran by the electrical system. I sure hope not.

[Charles]

Dang...that sucks!

I'd be frustrated too.

I'm not a lawyer and don't claim to be one but the only way I see you having a case is you can "prove" GM's wiring harness has a design flaw. You would need to have many other cases similar to yours. When I say "prove" that doesn't mean "I think" or "I feel", you need hard evidence.

[kingranch]

as crappy as it sounds you should just fix it yourself and save the headache..

i would be willing to bet theres just a wire or two that is actually damaged and most just got hot and melted the insulation. I would personally find out if that harness is easy to replace
or if its part of the main then just take an afternoon and trace each wire with a newone and some crimps and connectors... shouldnt take more than a few hours-

[COACH_EM_UP]

as crappy as it sounds you should just fix it yourself and save the headache..

i would be willing to bet theres just a wire or two that is actually damaged and most just got hot and melted the insulation. I would personally find out if that harness is easy to replace
or if its part of the main then just take an afternoon and trace each wire with a newone and some crimps and connectors... shouldnt take more than a few hours-

Yep, that is probably what is going to happen. This wiring harness is the main one, that controls the dash panel, the instrument panel, the radio, the 3 bluetooth buttons for the garage door opener and all that. It is a PIA to replace the whole thing, as it connects 2 fuse boxes and runs through the firewall as well. Like I said, the harness itself is $962, so we are probably going to pull the wiring harness out and see how far back the wires were affected by the arc and the fire.

If worst comes to worst, I will just have to get a new truck. Dang it!

[SMUMan02]

Law degree here, 11 years of having a pretty general civil litigation practice in state and federal courts. General thoughts that are NOT legal advice: With a 10 year old product, you are almost always going to have problems with proving causation. There are simply too many intervening events since that truck left the plant to prove that their design was the cause of the your fire. There are thousands of potential explanations for the fire. If you can find other instances of the same problem on a Chevy owners forum you might have something, but otherwise, it's going to be hard to prove a design flaw caused this fire. That's just my .02 and it's probably worth about that much. Have you seen any evidence that others have this problem? I have a 2007 Chevy myself so I'm interested legally, but also personally...

Another thing, I generally agree that you are going to spend more on a lawyer than the cost of repair. I've been dealing with another large retailer on a VERY SMALL CLAIM and their goal appears to have been, from the very beginning, to just give my client the run around. Lawyers know this so most are probably going to want to charge you an hourly fee which will put your bills into the thousands pretty quickly. If you find others a lawyer might deal with them on a contingency basis, but if you are the only one, you probably are paying hourly.