A summary of Southern California-related business litigation developments during the week of March 26:

Trial Date Set in Poison Gas Suit: A massive suit stemming from a poisonous gas cloud at the General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys was tentatively set for trial on Sept. 18 in Los Angeles. The Superior Court case was brought by more than 40 General Motors workers, who claim they were injured when a chlorine gas cloud was released at the company’s Van Nuys plant on March 13, 1985. The suit says the accident occurred when sodium hypochloride--and not aluminum sulphate--mistakenly was loaded into a tanker and delivered to the GM plant, then put into a tank that had contained aluminum sulphate, triggering the gas cloud. Defendants are Imperial West Chemical Company and California Tank Lines, both of which also have been sued by General Motors. (Case Nos. C572299, NWC 16920)