(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co.’s potential liability overflawed ignition switches isn’t over yet, and billions of dollarsremain at stake.

GM agreed Thursday to pay $575 million to end a shareholdersuit tied to the defect and more than 1,380 civil cases byvictims. A separate $900 million accord with the U.S. governmentresolved a criminal probe into the matter.

That still leaves Detroit-based GM facing hundreds ofpersonal-injury and wrongful-death claims over the deadly flaw, aswell as suits by car owners seeking as much as $10 billion for thelost value of their vehicles.

Six personal-injury cases are set for trial, the first in NewYork in January. If those aren’t settled, the proceedings will shedlight once again on the company’s illegal behavior after the flawwas discovered and harm its reputation, said Carl Tobias, whoteaches product-liability law at the University of Richmond inVirginia.

“There’s still a risk of a potentially embarrassing trial,”Tobias said. “I don’t think they’ll be able to settle them all - -one holdout who wants to go to trial can gum up the works.”

The cases set for trial are strong and might be extremely costlyfor GM, revealing what Texas attorney Bob Hilliard, whosepersonal-injury and wrongful-death cases made up the bulk ofThursday’s settlement, calls a cover-up.

‘Huge’ award

“A jury may get the chance to do what the Department of Justicedetermined it could not do -- hit them with a huge punitive damageaward,” the lawyer said.

The plaintiffs argue that GM endangered them by delaying therecall of defective vehicles in which jostled keys could trigger ashut-off and disable steering, brakes and airbags. GM has said topexecutives didn’t know the switch was a persistent problem. Nonewill be prosecuted under the Justice Department deal.

Lawsuits over the lost value of the vehicles haven’t gone as farin court, and none of those cases is scheduled for trial. GM arguesthe potential damages are far less than the car-owners contend.

“We do not recognize or believe that that figure has anyvalidity,” Jim Cain, a spokesman for GM, said in a phoneinterview. “For our part, it’s impossible to estimate our liabilitybecause of the all uncertainties that are associated withlitigation.”

Some victims were “outraged” by the criminal settlement,Hilliard said.

Victim’s father

One of his clients, Jay Gass, is the father of Lara Gass, athird-year law student who was killed driving a 2006 Saturn Ion.Gass, who met with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara earlier inthe government’s investigation, was informed of the criminal accordby a federal agent in a phone call early Thursday.

“It shows that corporations only have to budget enough money tobuy their way out of criminal actions with the U.S. government,”Gass said in an e-mail. “Families who lost their loved ones incrashes caused by defective GM ignition switches are suffering onceagain with the loss of any confidence that justice will beserved.”

The defect was a low-torque ignition switch installed in atleast five vehicle models starting in 2003, including the ChevroletCobalt and the Saturn Ion, the U.S. said in its settlementagreement with GM. Under the accord, the company admitted that 15deaths and an unspecified number of serious injuries werelinked to the flaw.

Engineers’ knowledge

Even before the switch went into production in 2002, some GMengineers knew it was prone to slipping out of the “run” position,the U.S. said. The company considered fixing the problem, whichwould have cost $1 a vehicle, a few years later, but chose not toafter deciding it didn’t pose a safety concern, according to thedocuments.

By the spring of 2012, the U.S. said, some GM employees knew theswitch was defective because it could “cause airbagnon-deployment,” according to the agreement. GM didn’t notifyfederal safety officials until about 20 months later, in February2014.

The delay allowed GM to “fully package, present, explain andhandle the deadly problem, taking affirmative steps to keep thedefective switch matter outside the normal process,” the U.S.said.

Even after GM stopped selling the affected vehicles, GM dealersfrom 2012 to 2013 continued to sell used cars that would becomesubject to recall over the flaw, according to the agreement.

Wrongdoing admission

“It’s an admission, inside a criminal proceeding, ofwrongdoing,” said Hilliard. The admissions will bolster theremaining cases that weren’t settled, he said.

The settlement will require a special master to determine how todivide the money and make offers to individual plaintiffs who canaccept or reject them, Hilliard said. If enough claimants refuse toparticipate, GM can walk away, he said, without citing the requiredpercentage needed.

Hilliard said he signed the agreement a little before midnight,after news of the criminal settlement became public. He said thecriminal settlement had no effect on the timing of hissettlement.

Big number

“It’s a large and substantial number,” Hilliard said. “It’svery, very fair to my clients.”

The settlement covers death and injury claimants represented byHilliard but doesn’t include 31 deaths and 244 injuries thatpredate GM’s 2009 bankruptcy. Hilliard said he has encouraged GM tosettle these claims.

GM gained the upper hand over many victims when a judge approvedthe company’s sale in bankruptcy, barring many claims that predatedthe Chapter 11 filing. Victims have appealed that ruling, whichwould expose GM to additional liability if it were overturned.

“GM will certainly take it to the Supreme Court if it has to,”said Tobias, the Virginia law professor.

--With assistance from Margaret Cronin Fisk in Detroit.

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