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Volkswagen Could Pay Damages to Consumers After Being Sued in Germany

After earlier this week a new piece of legislation allowing class action suits to be filed came into effect in Germany, a local consumer group is already taking Volkswagen to court over the Diesegate scandal.
Volkswagen hit by class action suit in Germany 1 photo
Photo: Volkswagen
The lawsuit was filed by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) on behalf of the 40 or so consumer groups it represents. According to BBC, the organization is trying to get Volkswagen to pay damages to German consumers affected by the emissions scandal.

"The damage for every consumer can be several thousand euros, and there is no sign of the car industry to compensate for the damage they have caused," VZBV spokeswoman Sarah Hoare was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"The legislator has provided us with a new type of legal means, which we are using without delay so that consumers are no longer left alone with their damages."

Before the new piece of legislation came into effect, only shareholders were able to take companies to court.

German law has a three years statute of limitations for suing a company, meaning that any legal action against Volkswagen has to be taken by the end of this year in order to take effect. It’s unclear at this point whether VZBV’s decision will be followed by other organizations.

Should the court agree to the demands of the plaintiff – and judging by the fines slapped on both Volkswagen and Audi this year for their practices, that just might be the case – the auto group could face additional financial setbacks.

Back in June, German authorities asked VW to pay 1 billion euros for sending on the roads an estimated 10.7 million vehicles equipped with the so-called defeat device that helped them cheat emissions’ tests.

This decision was followed in October by a fine almost equal in size, 800 million EUR, handed to Audi for  “negligent regulatory offenses” and “disgorgement of economic benefits.”
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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