Volkswagen has been dealt another blow in the UK group action lawsuit over the Dieselgate emissions scandal as its appeal was rejecteded by the courts.
The landmark ruling means that the compensation case lodged by owners can continue. It also likely means that almost 90,000 affected owners of Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen cars could now receive compensation by 2022.
The verdict, delivered by Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Males, ruled that “the Judge’s “defeat device” issue was clearly correct”. If VW had won the appeal, it is likely that the outcome would've been longer and more protracted. Preliminary motions including witness evidence exhanges, a selection of lead claimants and full disclosure will now take place before the trial actually begins.
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 cars. They're claiming for compensation over the installation of illegal ‘defeat devices’ to cheat European Union emissions standards. UK firm Your Lawyers reckon the compensation could end up totalling £8500 per affected vehicle, adding up to more than £10 billion.
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 earlier this year, Mr Justice Waksman, ruled that “the software function in issue in this case is indeed a defeat device” under the classification defined by the EU. 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."
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xxxx
and yet they still plan to appeal
Despite the judges comments. UK goverment should have pursued it too, afterall the US and German gov. sure milked 'em
Sammybo
VW
If HMRC put as much effort in pursuing VW as they put into chasing private UK tax payers ......all of that lost VED, and the mayor of London.....equally culpable.
once we are out of the EU ....and public sector salaries get reduced by the same amount as private sector salaries ( we will be the poorest paid workforce in Northern Europe) .....yes politicians, civil servants, teachers, NHS workers and all the rest, see how many people will think its a good idea then.
at least with the saving of £350 million a week (gullible me?) we should as a country be back in the black by next Easter!!!!!!
Electricvanman
Money, money, money
All these bleeding hearts hurting about all the pollution they caused. What a joke they underpaid excise duty and want money back because of that. What next will the owners of phevs be lining up next as they can't get 100+ mpg out of the Mickey Mouse mobiles. All money from VW fines to NHS as somebody has to pay for the Boris Bus claims.
typos1
Electricvanman wrote:
Wow, you must be the only non VW employee in the world whos actually defending them.
Citytiger
Electricvanman wrote:
Dont be a dick all your life, do us all a favour and take a day off, do you realise the Boris won the election, Corbyn got defeated massively and we are leaving the EU. Stupid f***wit.
405line
Herd immunity
Don't worry VW many people are still buying Golfs and other VAGness in fact I think the golf out sold the Ford Fiesta in the UK last month or something. Keep up the good fight VW from those vindictive and unforgiving UK owners.
typos1
405line wrote:
Yeah, thats the strange thing, not only did they cheat and cause more pollution, the whole scandal caused diesel sales to fall which resulted in CO2 emissions rising all over Europe making gloal warming worse, but the public still buy their sh*te cars, weird. I ll never buy a VW Group vehicle as long as I live, not just cos of this but also cos theyre sh*te.
gavsmit
Totally confused
Firstly, I don't understand what VW's defence is - they did something bad, it's been proven (they even issued a 'fix' for it) and they've forked out money to other countries, so what's their defence in the UK?!
Secondly, why do UK people still buy VW products from this company despite all this and declining standards of build / reliability whilst their prices rocket?
Maybe that's where VW's arrogance comes from - having a large loyal customer base who they can poop on from a high height but will still come back for more and pay handsomely for it.
VW has caused higher polution (and all the impact of that on everyone and the whole planet, not just VW owners), a substantial reduction in money to the Treasury for public services (from reduced road fund licence that their cars didn't deserve) and all the hassle to owners who had to have the 'fix' applied that then caused their cars to run terrible, and the resale implications of all that.
The only way they're going to get out of this is via a legal technicality via the efforts of a very expensive legal team rather than proving their innocence or that they are a company of integrity.
Peter Cavellini
Firstly.
Boris is in Hospital, precautionary I know, I ma not like his politics, but I don't wish him any ill will, as for VW...pay up!
db
Exclude repeat buyers
Perhaps those who have gone onto buy another VW group product should be excluded from this legal action and any pay out as I am sure there will be double standards aplenty going on with VW group fans. The company its management and structures were rotten to the core and I am sure there will still be problems under the surface. They marketed and traded on lies hope fully the law will sort them out govt need to raise an action to for lost road tax and company car tax revenues for some reason they haven't!
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