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The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to consider General Motors Corp.'s (GM) appeal of an Arkansas judge's decision to certify a nationwide class-action lawsuit against the automaker over allegedly defective parking brakes.

GM argued that the trial judge allowed the case to proceed as a class action without any understanding of what facts and issues that would be relevant in the case.

The automaker, backed by business groups, said the issue of class-action certification is important because once plaintiffs are cleared to join together and sue as a class, companies face higher financial liability and are under pressure to settle even unmeritorious claims.

At issue is a lawsuit about potentially faulty parking brakes on four million GM trucks and sport-utility vehicles from model-years 1999 to 2002.

The plaintiffs allege that GM knew of the parking-brake problem and attempted to cover it up in order to avoid paying to fix it.

They said in a court brief that it would cost GM $350 million to fix all the affected vehicles.

The Supreme Court rejected GM's appeal without comment and let stand an Arkansas Supreme Court decision affirming the class-action certification.

GM said in a November filing with the SEC that it has been named in four class-action lawsuits on parking brakes, including two in Canada. The company said the Canadian suits seek punitive and general damages of $500 million.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com

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