Californians May Lose Out On GM Class Action Settlement Cash

               State's Privacy Laws May Work Against Consumers

    HOUSTON, May 11 In an ironic twist, nearly half a million
California owners of General Motors pickup trucks may lose the opportunity to
get cash as a result of a class action settlement involving their fire-prone
pickups because the state's tough privacy laws are making it difficult to mail
notices to class members.

    Don Barrett, lead class attorney, said a mailing to 5.8 million owners of
GM pickup trucks was sent out by GM on April 18.  That mailing offered owners
of 1973-91 GM full-size pickups with sidesaddle fuel tanks a certificate for
$1,000 off the purchase price of a new GM car or truck.  The fuel tank
location allegedly makes these vehicles more likely to explode and burn in a
side-impact collision.

    At the same time, the class attorneys sent out a letter from Certificate
Redemption Group (CRG) of Houston with an offer to buy those certificates for
$100 each from GM truck owners who didn't plan to buy a new vehicle and had no
use for them.  To take the cash offer the two letters had to be returned by
mail in one envelope, or recipients could close the deal by using the group's
consumer hotline or Web site.

    Californians did not get the cash offer because of the difficulty class
counsel had in getting the state's vehicle owner registration data by the
mailing deadline.  Further, the state wouldn't expedite the request even
though it involves pickup trucks that tend to explode in a collision, said
Barrett.

    However, Californians who received the GM letter can still take advantage
of the cash offer, Barrett said, by completing the necessary steps in the GM
mailing and then calling the consumer hotline at 800-317-4997, or by logging
on to http://www.CertificateRebates.com .

    "I feel bad for the 498,000 Californians who own these pickup trucks,"
said Barrett.  "California is a pro-consumer state, but here's a situation
where their tough state laws are actually working against consumers by
complicating the transaction."

    As a result, said Barrett, the response to the $100 cash offer in
California has been minimal while nationally, more than 800,000 truck owners
have opted for the cash offer and the number continues to grow.

    "This automotive class action settlement was unique because it provided a
way for class members to get a certificate or to sell it if they had no use
for it," said James R. Dawley, chairman and CEO of Certificate Redemption
Group, the company selected by class attorneys to handle the program.

    The idea behind the cash offer is to create a secondary market for the
certificates so fleets and others could use them to buy new vehicles.  In this
way, money could be raised to return to class members.

    "By creating the secondary market, we're able to return cash to a much
larger percentage of class members than GM had planned on.  GM certainly isn't
happy about our success and continues to fight it, but without our offer to
buy these certificates, only a few consumers would get anything at all from
the lawsuit after waiting nine years," said Dawley.

    Dawley said that if one million requests for cash are received, up to $100
million could be returned to the class, a first in class-action lawsuits.