June 11, 2013, 19:12 / Auto

The court rejected the claim against GM for $3 billion for the deliberate bankruptcy of Saab

The judge considered that the American manufacturer had every right to stop the change of ownership of the Swedish company Gennady Anisimov

Spyker CEO and former Saab CEO Victor Muller / Erik Abel / Bloomberg

An American court has rejected the claim of the Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker NV, which accused General Motors of deliberately driving the Swedish automaker Saab into bankruptcy, Automotive News Europe reports . The American manufacturer had the right to block the sale of a company that used its technology, the judge decided.

Spyker acquired the Swedish automaker from GM for $400 million in 2010. In December 2011, the Swedish company declared bankruptcy, and in August 2012, Spyker sued GM in a US court for $3 billion in damages, accusing the American automaker of intentionally blocking deal with China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile to eliminate a potential competitor in the growing Chinese market.

"General Motors had the express right to approve or disapprove the proposed transaction," District Court Judge Gershwin Drain said Monday at a hearing in Detroit as he issued a resolution to dismiss the case. The judge said that the sale of Saab gave GM a "clear, unequivocal and absolute" right to stop the change of ownership. GM's statements of opposition to the sale of the Swedish manufacturer Youngman were made without malice or intent to harm Saab. The judge will provide a more detailed explanation of his decision later.

A GM spokesman expressed satisfaction with the court's decision to dismiss the case. GM has always denied accusations that it deliberately drove the Swedish company into bankruptcy by blocking the deal with Youngman. The automaker argued that the claims against it were unmerited and that it had the legal right to approve the Saab deals.

Spyker CEO Victor Mueller, who attended the hearing, declined to say whether he would appeal the decision. “We will first wait for the written decision, then we will decide,” he told Reuters.

GM took a majority stake in Saab in 1990 and became its sole owner in 2000. In 2010, Saab was bought out by Dutch supercar maker Spyker NV, later renamed Swedish Automobile. Saab stopped production in May 2011 when it could no longer pay its supplier and employees. The company began bankruptcy proceedings in December 2011.

In June 2012, the assets of the bankrupt Swedish automaker were purchased by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) with Chinese-Japanese capital. The new owner said it would produce electric vehicles on Saab platforms and temporarily resume production of several of the Swedish brand's previous models.