In a long-running GM oil lawsuit settlement over the company’s oil-burning Vortec 5.3L V8 engine, the attorneys came out as the real winners. After more than eight years in court, the case has settled. While some GM owners will see a few thousand dollars, the lawyers who argued the case will walk away with a whopping $57 million.
The lawsuit accused General Motors of selling trucks and SUVs with defective piston rings that caused the popular Vortec 5.3L LC9 Small Block V8 to burn oil faster than normal. Many RVers know this engine well—it powered countless tow vehicles between 2011 and 2014, including the Chevy Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, Avalanche, and GMC Sierra, Yukon, and Yukon XL.
GM oil lawsuit settlement may short-change RVers
For RVers, these rigs weren’t just daily drivers—they were tow vehicles. Surveys show that the majority of owners used these models to haul travel trailers, boats, or fifth wheels. The Silverado and Sierra were mainstays for heavy-duty towing, while the Suburban and Yukon XL often pulled family-sized rigs. That made the oil consumption problem a serious issue for many RV owners who depend on these engines to pull long grades and log highway miles.
Owners complained that the engines used excessive oil, fouled spark plugs, and ran rough. Some even failed outright. Plaintiffs also claimed GM knew about the problem and kept quiet, leaving customers to handle costly repairs and shortened engine life.
The real winners in the settlement
The final GM oil lawsuit settlement offers eligible owners or lessees $3,380 each, while the three original plaintiffs who filed the case will receive $30,000 apiece. The agreement applies only to residents of California, Idaho, and North Carolina who bought or leased their vehicles directly from a GM dealer within specific timeframes.
But the biggest payday goes to the lawyers who handled the case—Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., and DiCello Levitt LLP—who will split $57 million in attorney fees.
For affected RVers, the settlement may be some comfort after years of engine trouble. But there’s no denying who really came out ahead in this battle over GM’s oil-hungry engines.
Sources include: GM Authority
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Class action law suits only EVER benefit the lawyers.
Class Action Lawsuits: Lawsuits designed by crooks, er, excuse me, lawyers,specifically only for the benefit of lawyers. Never get involved in one!
Got that right, 8 or 10 or 12 years to settle and the lawyers get rich while you keep the defective and depreciating product.
I’m still waiting for around $400 on an LG refrigerator class action lawsuit which I’ll never see. (The lawyers got 27 million.)
Kinda like the song she got the gold mine, I got the shaft.
I got a check for $34 yesterday for my share of a class-action settlement with Fiat-Chrysler over their diesel emissions lawsuit. Wonder how much those law firms got?
One attorney in the tobacco settlement was awarded $400 million in fees. One guy! The total fees awarded to the lawyers was in the range of $8.2 billion.
The lawyer I’ve slept with since 1970 points out the lawyers had to front a lot of costs so that $57 million isn’t all pure profit. The lawyers have to pay upfront for expert witnesses, travel costs for expert witnesses and witnesses, salaries for paralegals, legal secretaries and legal witnesses, deposition costs etc. Zoom didn’t exist when this lawsuit started so all that travel was required.
And the kicker, their 6.6 gassers still burn a lot of oil. I have a 2023. I can’t wait for my $100 settlement check.
Sorry, I can’t jump on the comment bandwagon.
If the lawyers didn’t put in the thousands of hours collecting, arranging and presenting the case (hence their pay), how else are the manufacturers to be held accountable? Do people honestly think those pulling GM into court should do all that work on the cheap let alone for free?
The fact that GM had to pay the legal team that enormous amount of money illustrates how hard they denied, deflected and delayed their acceptance of culpability.
Calling those who took the 3 plaintiff’s experiences and held GM accountable “crooks” because they charged GM the costs of trying to dodge accountability doesn’t make sense to me.
Lawyers and Politicians always come out over the public they are supposed to represent. oh yeah they’re the same
The problem here is not how much the attorneys were paid. The problem is that the amount of money paid to the engine owners is insufficient to take care of the problem. It should be done on a recall basis. I, for one, learned long ago to not buy GM products. During the gas shortage in the 1970s I bought a new diesel Oldsmobile. The injector pump failed but was replaced under warrantee. Then, apparently due to the block not being strong enough and was leaking compression to the point it was hard to start and didn’t run well. Then, in my driveway it pumped so much oil out of the sump into the combustion chambers the engine ran away and couldn’t be shut off then used hose for resulting fire.
I had a 2023 GMC Sierra and in the two years I owned it I don’t remember any recalls. Only trouble I had was radio wouldn’t play once in a while. But would next time you used truck. Have a 2025 F150 in 1st three months I have four recalls. One of which has no parts. I’ve had two issues with radio in 1st four months. Had a 2021 F150 in Less than two years had a lot of recalls, some they had no parts for. GMC was terrible on gas. Even after totaling I was getting recalls.
My wife’s car for a while was a Chevy Celebrity. Kind of a crummy car and had to replace top-side engine anti-rock stabilizer. Next was a new 1987 Bounder on a P30 chassis. The 454 cid V8 was designed with little forethought. The exhaust manifold on both cylinder banks wrapped around the spark plugs. Heat burned the plug wires and sometime the porcelain tops of the spark plugs cracked. The manifolds warped and/or cracked. All three of my former GM vehicles had serious issues. I learned my lesson and avoid anything made by GM.