(Bloomberg) -- GM’s fate in a personal injury trial that willhelp shape hundreds of cases to come lies in the hands of a speechpathologist, a customer service rep and a man who has served as ajuror eight times, among others.

Robert Scheuer, whose 2003 Saturn Ion ran off an Oklahomahighway in May 2014 and smashed into a tree, is the first plaintiffin General Motors Co.’s ignition switch scandal to have his caseheard by a jury. Flawed switches could be jarred into the“accessory” position, shutting off the engine, disabling powersteering and brakes and preventing air bags fromdeploying.

Afflicted by neck and back pain, Scheuer missed 169 days ofwork, can’t lift more than 20 pounds and needs surgery, said hislawyer, Robert Hilliard, the lead attorney for the personalinjury and death claims in the so-called multidistrictlitigation. The trial begins Tuesday morning in federal courtin Manhattan.

America’s biggest carmaker faces at least 16 trials on death andinjury claims in state and federal courts in the U.S. in2016. The jury’s reaction to the evidence in the current trialcould push either side to settle — or battle out — comingcases and help set the size of any settlements.

The jury, selected Monday, is made up of seven women and fivemen. It includes a bookkeeper at a tax preparation firm, a clothingsaleswoman and an Internet radio executive.

The eight-time — now nine-time — juror earlier servedalmost entirely on criminal cases. U.S. District Judge JesseFurman asked him if he understood that a civil case, like this one,sets the plaintiff’s burden of proof at a preponderance ofevidence, instead of the stricter proof beyond a reasonable doubtthat a criminal trial demands. He said he did.

One jury candidate excused from the case holds down two jobs— an hourly production job and freelance work to make endsmeet — and said he feared he could lose both during theroughly five-week trial. The orderly courtroom grew especiallyquiet as another prospective juror was excused because she had justlost her boyfriend to a fatal brain injury after he was hit by avehicle.

Judge Furman, in his preliminary instructions to the freshlychosen jury, took pains to distinguish between the General Motorsthat filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in thefinancial crisis and the company that emerged from it. He explainedthat New GM, as it came to be called, may be responsible forsome but not all of the acts of Old GM.

Related: GM ignition nightmare won't go away, for victims orcompany

The trial is the first of six bellwethers in Manhattan, socalled because they are used to test strategies. Whatever theverdicts, these early trials will push both sides into settlements,said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor. “Youdon’t get people to talk until there’s some clarity,’’ he said.

The bellwether process is “actually a settlement tool,’’ JimCain, a GM spokesman, said last week. “The verdicts anddamages, if any, will help to provide a framework for settlement ofsimilar claims.’’

Cain said GM will deal with the suits one at atime, challenging the plaintiffs to show that the defectiveswitches caused the accidents.

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