Germany Finally Gets in on the Diesel Action With Its Own Compensation Lawsuit
A lawsuit has been filed in Germany against Volkswagen in the hopes of forcing the automaker to buy back emission-cheating cars in Europe in the same manner it was ordered to in the United States.
The suit, filed today by a solitary vehicle owner, will become the test case for thousands of other European claimants and aims to put pressure on VW to compensate continental customers for the ongoing emissions scandal.
Germany’s My-Right.de established a website for VW owners to sign up and have their claims heard without running the financial risks typically associated with plaintiffs and the country’s “loser pays rule.” Cooperating with litigation fund Burford Capital and the global law firm Hausfeld, the website is promising car owners up to 5,000 euros ($5,200) in damages or a forced buyback of their vehicle. While My-right.de has not officially stated how many potential claimants have singed up, Reuters obtained documents indicating at least 100,000 individuals.
Hausfeld already represents VW owners in America and shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic.
While the German proceedings do not have the same legal weight as the U.S. class action suit, they will serve as a model in establishing a basis for future cases.
To date, only about a thousand of the nearly 2.5 million affected German owners have sued VW or car dealers over their defeat device-equipped vehicles. While some suits were rejected outright, roughly one quarter have been successful. Volkswagen is also the target of 1,400 investor-based lawsuits over the same emissions-cheating issue, seeking a combined 8 billion euros.
Volkswagen has already spent billions to compensate U.S. owners of diesel-powered cars, but has — so far — rejected compensation for the remaining 8.5 million affected European models. It proposed the alternative of removing the test-defying software, ensuring that the “fixed” cars would still pass emissions and inflict no loss of value on European car owners.
However, Jan-Eike Andresen of My-Right.de isn’t satisfied. “VW has defrauded car owners for years,” Andresen told reporters. “VW delivered nothing on what they promised to do to mend the issue.”
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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This is a case were I admire US justice. Even if GM is a big corporation, damaging which one damages the country's economics too, they fined it heftily for that switch scandal nonetheless. Nothing similar happens in GEUrmany, where VW IS the state. Long time ago, Agnelli used to claim that "what is good for FIAT, is good for Italy". This is how car companies bend the wrist of the government here.
Do we have to reuse the same VW photo over and over again? Since it's a story about the EU trying to squeeze VW for cash why not a Broom yellow GTD pic.