GA HR2039

Georgia House Resolution commends Lance Cooper, a solo practitioner attorney from Marietta and Emory University School of Law graduate, for his role in uncovering the General Motors ignition switch defect

Cooper filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of Brooke Melton, a 29-year-old pediatric nurse killed in March 2010 when her 2005 Chevy Cobalt lost power, and obtained over 32,000 pages of documents and depositions from about a dozen GM engineers

Cooper is credited with being the first to create a public record of GM's knowledge of the ignition switch defect, including engineers' decade-long awareness of the issue, which set the stage for GM's recall of nearly 800,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s

Cooper litigated the case largely with the help of his paralegal, Doreen Lundrigan, and GM settled with his clients for an undisclosed amount; five months later, GM announced the recall

The resolution also recognizes paralegal Doreen Lundrigan and directs the Clerk of the House to transmit a copy to Lance Cooper