Summary: More lawsuits from consumers and state and government agencies are being thrown at Volkswagen for their emissions scandal.
The lawsuits are not likely to stop anytime soon for Volkswagen. Hundreds of class-action lawsuits have been filed as well as numerous lawsuits from state agencies and governments against the German automaker for knowingly selling vehicles that violated U.S. emission standards.
Read Nearly 200 Class Action Suits Filed against Volkswagen to learn more.
Currently, the attorneys general for New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, and West Virginia have sued VW, but more are expected to follow. The U.S. Justice Department has also started the attack process against VW with subpoenas under the bank fraud statute Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act.
VW currently faces $48 billion in penalties for violating the Clean Air Act, but this amount will continue to grow as more lawsuits are added on. As John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor, explains, “It is the nature of the federal system in the United States, and its somewhat fragmented number of enforcers, that people can come out of the woodwork and bring actions and the numbers keep going up.”
Read Atlanta Law Firm One of the First to Sue Volkswagen.
Current investigations into VW by the Justice Department are to determine if lenders that financed their vehicles at an inflated price suffered any damages. Buyers paid a premium price for “clean diesel” cars that turned out to be emitting pollutants 40 times the legal limit.
See Porsche and Audi Models Added to VW Emissions Investigation.
Under FIRREA, the Justice Department only has to prove the allegations are “more likely than not” true instead of the higher burden of proof required in criminal cases.
Source: http://www.dw.com/en/volkswagen-faces-legal-gauntlet-in-us/a-19110147
Photo: telegraph.co.uk