VW Emissions Scandal Court Update
Thursday, 25. June 2020
VW has lost the first major ruling in a landmark High Court lawsuit by owners in England and Wales affected by the Dieselgate emissions scandal.
The class action lawsuit, which could be the largest consumer action in English legal history, involves almost 90,000 owners of Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen models. They are claiming for compensation over the installation of illegal ‘defeat devices’ to cheat European emissions standards.
Lawyers for the owners say Volkswagen knowingly “cheated” these rules put in place to “save lives” by installing an unlawful device designed to detect a rolling road test and alter the combustion process to reduce nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions by up to 40 times.
The judge in the case, Mr Justice Waksman, ruled that “the software function in issue in this case is indeed a defeat device” under the classification defined by the European Union. The judge claimed he was “far from alone in this conclusion”, noting various courts and industry bodies that agree with the verdict.
He called Volkswagen’s defence “highly flawed” and “absurd”, adding: “A software function which enables a vehicle to pass the test because it operates the vehicle in a way which is bound to past the test and in which it does not operate own the road is a fundamental subversion of the test and the objective behind it.”
After the ruling, the head of group litigation at Slater and Gordon, which represents around 70,000 of the claimants, said in a statement: “This damning judgement confirms what our clients have known for a long time, but which Volkswagen has refused to accept: namely that Volkswagen fitted defeat devices into millions of vehicles in the UK in order to cheat emissions tests.”
Volkswagen responded that it is “disappointed” in today’s ruling but that the “judgement relates only to preliminary issues”. The company intends to appeal.
“To be clear, today’s decision does not determine liability or any issues of causation or loss for any of the causes of action claimed,” it said in a statement. “Volkswagen remains confident in our case that we are not liable to the claimants as alleged and the claimants did not suffer any loss.”
The first hearing began in December 2019, looking at whether the company’s ‘EA189’ diesel engine (sold in 1.2-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre capacities) featured such a device.
Despite today’s ruling, there are still further phases of the case, including determining ‘causation’ – i.e. whether or not the defeat device caused damage. These are due to play out at the end of this year or early 2021. If the verdict goes against Volkswagen, it could be ordered to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation.
Volkswagen hasn’t paid compensation to any UK owners, claiming the cars weren’t fitted with a ‘defeat device’ under UK law. Previous rulings to the contrary in other countries, such as the US, carry no weight in the UK, hence the need for the class action proceedings. By Graham Hill thanks to Autocar
