General Motors Co. asked a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s order requiring Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra to meet with her counterpart at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to resolve a lawsuit over bribery of labour union officials.

GM seeks to press ahead with the lawsuit, claiming Fiat Chrysler got better contracts than competing carmakers by bribing union officials. The added labour expenses increased GM’s costs by billions of dollars, the company says.

The company’s “commitment to justice includes a responsibility to expose corruption in our industry when we learn of it and seek damages when we are targeted and directly harmed,” it said in a statement Friday. “Not pursuing justice rewards wrongdoers at the expense of honest, hard-working people.”

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman in Detroit on Tuesday told Barra and Fiat Chrysler’s Mike Manley to talk in person by July 2 to try and resolve the lawsuit that he called a “waste of time and resources” during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We reject the notion that seeking justice for the direct harm caused to GM is a “waste of time,” a “distraction” or a “diversion,” the company said.

GM asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to reverse Borman’s ruling and reassign the case to another judge.

Nine union and Fiat Chrysler leaders were jailed as a result of a federal corruption probe. GM also claims that Fiat Chrysler’s bribes pushed union officials to go along with a proposed merger between the two automakers that former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne wanted but GM rejected. Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann has publicly denied the allegations. The company has said GM may have even used the lawsuit to try to thwart its proposed merger with France’s Peugeot SA.

The case is General Motors LLC v. FCA US LLC, 19-cv-13429, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit).