Attorney Plato Cacheris told a judge in U.S. District Court that he will file motions by Dec. 13 asking that the civil case be delayed against Jose Ignacio Lopez, Jose Manuel Gutierrez, Jorge Alvarez and Rosario Piazza.
All four are under investigation by German authorities in the alleged theft of trade secrets from GM and its German subsidiary, Adam Opel AG. They also are being investigated by a federal grand jury in Detroit, Cacheris said.
No charges have been filed from either investigation, but Cacheris said the German case is expected "to come to fruition" by year's end. Lopez's Frankfurt lawyer said last month that he expected Lopez to be charged in Germany soon.
GM alleges that Lopez, a former GM purchasing chief, conspired with top VW executives to steal trade secrets when Lopez defected to VW in 1993 with several other managers from the world's largest automaker. GM seeks unspecified damages in the lawsuit, filed in March.
If Edmunds grants the motion, proceedings against VW, its U.S. subsidiary and other company executives presumably would continue. But VW attorney James Denvir said the case probably would not come to trial until 1998 because of its complexity. He predicted a trial would last at least nine months.
Denvir said no negotiations for an out-of-court settlement were under way, but that VW remained willing to discuss one.
GM and Opel publicly have taking a hard line with VW, insisting that any settlement would have to include a public apology, the dismissal of the remaining VW managers named in the lawsuit, and significant damages.
After Lopez resigned from VW on Friday, GM and Opel issued a statement saying that they want a trial "more than ever." GM executives apparently were angered that VW board members denied Lopez' resignation was an admission of wrongdoing and said GM lacked evidence to support its case.
GM attorney John B. Quinn said Tuesday that the automaker was preparing to take the case to trial, but that a settlement was "always possible."
Tuesday's hearing was to discuss procedural issues, such as how each side will review each other's evidence. Judge Nancy Edmunds also set a Jan. 29 hearing on Cacheris' motion to stay the proceedings for his clients.
At VW's request, Edmunds asked GM attorneys to file papers that state the specific trade secrets it accuses VW of stealing and to identify the documents that contain those secrets.
Edmunds said depositions of witnesses should begin in March. She said no trial date would be set before spring.
Quinn told Edmunds that GM was worried that Lopez and Guiterrez, who also recently quit VW, may take documents at issue in the case to another country. "These men in the past have taken documents with them," he said.
Edmunds noted that both sides are responsible for maintaining their documents and to disclose any that turn up missing.
Denvir said later that he was offended by Quinn's comments.
"We recognize our obligation to preserve documents in this case," he said. "I didn't think it was necessary for them to remind us of that."