General Motors Co. unveiled its plan to compensate victims of its ignition-switch defect last week, as a federal bankruptcy judge put off arguments over whether the automaker committed a fraud on the court by concealing the problem during its 2009 reorganization.

U.S. District Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in New York said on July 2 that it would be premature to consider any fraud claims, and that he hoped to hit “the sweet spot between fairness and getting to the right result.”