A federal judge this week upheld a Connecticut jury's $2.9 million verdict against General Motors LLC in which a young girl died in her family's Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle in 2011.

In her 71-page ruling released Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Janet Hall of New Haven knocked down all of the automaker's arguments about the accidental death of 8-year-old Maggie O'Connor, who died attempting to jump out of the vehicle that had started to roll into the woods.

O'Connor was playing with her younger brother in the SUV when she took the key out of the cup holder. Court filings show she then put the key in the ignition and turned it to the “accessory” position, which allows radio, windshield wipers and other features to run while the engine remains off. But when she moved the gear shift lever, the car started to roll.

O'Connor tried to jump out of the vehicle, but was instead crushed between the car door and a tree. She died instantly. Her brother was injured.

GM attempted to shift the blame to Maggie's mother, and maintained it provided sufficient warning about the potential danger. Its motion to set aside the verdict points to the “automatic transmission” section of the manual.

“Rose O'Connor never read the warning against leaving children in the vehicle with keys, or the instructions explaining that the Suburban's transmission could be shifted out of park without brake application,” the motion claimed.

Hall disagreed, and argued the company should have warned customers that a child with a key in the accessory position could cause the car to roll, just by shifting the transmission and without pressing the brake. She also refuted one of GM's main contentions, and got a court ruling instructing the jury that the plaintiffs had presented enough evidence to find that a warning in GM's owner's manual was “inadequate to warn of that risk.”

Robert Adelman, one of three attorneys representing the O'Connor family, told the Connecticut Law Tribune that GM's counsel informed him Thursday that the company will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City.

“In addition to blaming Rose O'Connor for what happened, they also blamed her 7-year-old son, who was in the car,” said Adelman, a partner with Adelman Hirsch & Connors in Bridgeport. “Rather than acknowledge a dangerous defect in their vehicle, their position has been to blame the mother. 'Blame the mom' is their answer to all of this.”

Adelman pointed to a striking difference between the grieving mother and the company. He said while Rose O'Connor “admitted from day one that she felt responsible, GM has denied from day one that they bear any responsibility.”

GM's court pleadings cited warnings in its owner's manual, but Adelman said that information should be on the vehicle, and not in a booklet.

“Parents make mistakes, and unfortunately parents do occasionally leave children in the vehicle with the radio playing or the DVD playing,” he said. “The warning is simply not good enough.”

The case examined how to assign blame to a company that underwent bankruptcy restructuring in 2009. The question was whether the post-bankruptcy entity would be responsible for potential liability for a vehicle made before 2009.

The O'Connors owned a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban.

“GM is attempting to shirk their responsibility,” Adelman said. “Their position in this case and others like it is that even if they find out about a defect in a car manufactured before 2009, they have no duty to inform the public or warn their customers. They do, though, have a duty to inform the public and the people driving these vehicles.”

Four attorneys represented GM: Stephanie Douglas of Bush, Seyferth & Paige in Michigan; Kent Hanson and Paul Darsow of Hanson Bolkcom Law Group in Minnesota; and Mark Claflin of Howd & Ludorf in Hartford. None responded to a request for comment Friday. Also, Joe LaMuraglia, a spokesman for GM, did not respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs' pleadings showed more than 40 similar incidents involving GM vehicles. Not all of those vehicles were Suburbans, but Adelman said they all had potential to roll without the engine on. Of those cases, seven children were injured and four died.

“Anytime you represent a family who lost a child, it takes a big piece out of you,” Adelman said. “I am very close with this family. I have in a way become part of the family, especially the son who is 14 years old now.”

Assisting Adelman were partner Joram Hirsch and associate Joseph Krevolin of Adelman Hirsch.