Volkswagen likely spared billions as US judge rejects state Dieselgate lawsuit
A US federal judge on Thursday dismissed a legal bid by the state of Wyoming to levy a daily environmental fine on Volkswagen for as long as cars with illegal emissions cheating software remain on its streets.
The state wanted to force the automaker to pay $37,500 (31,495 euros) per car per day, according to papers filed with the court in San Francisco.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
The disaster unfolds
About two weeks after Volkswagen admitted behind closed doors to US environmental regulators that it had installed cheating software in some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide, the Environmental Protection Agency shared that information with the public. It was Sept. 18, 2015. The ensuing crisis would eventually take a few unexpected turns.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
The boss must go, long live the boss
Volkswagen’s then-CEO Martin Winterkorn (above) had little choice but to step down several days after news of the scandal broke. In September, he tendered his resignation, but retained his other posts within the Volkswagen Group. Winterkorn’s successor was Matthias Müller. Until taking the reins at VW, Müller had been the chairman at Porsche, a VW subsidiary.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Raiding headquarters
Regulators in the US weren’t the only ones investigating VW. Authorities in Lower Saxony, the German state in which VW is based, were also scrutinizing the company. On October 8, state prosecutors raided VW’s headquarters along with several other corporate locations.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Hell breaks loose
On January 4, 2016, the US government filed a lawsuit against VW in Detroit, accusing the German automaker of fraud and violations of American climate protection regulations. The lawsuit sought up to $46 billion for violations of the Clean Air Act.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Quit or forced out?
In March, the head of VW in the US, Michael Horn, resigned. In the initial days and weeks after the scandal broke, he was the one US authorities turned to for information. He issued an official apology on behalf of the automaker, asking for the public’s forgiveness.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Settlement
On October 25, a US judge approved a final settlement that would have VW pay $15.3 billion. In addition, affected cars would be retrofitted with better, non-deceptive hardware and software, or else VW would buy them back completely from customers.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Imitators
When dieselgate first emerged in 2015, analysts said it was likely other car makers were also cheating tests. But It wasn’t until 2017 that other companies were targeted in probes. In July, German authorities launched investigations into luxury car makers Porsche and Daimler for allegedly cheating emissions tests. Others, such as Audi and Chrysler, have also been hit by similar allegations.
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Dieselgate: a timeline
Public still supportive
Despite dieselgate, VW has managed to keep the emissions scandal from utterly tarnishing its image. According to several polls, between 55 to 67 percent of Germans continue to trust the automaker. In the US, polls show that roughly 50 percent still believe the German company produces worthwhile vehicles.
Federal judge Charles Breyer dismissed the lawsuit, saying the so-called Clean Air Act must be regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rather than individual states.
VW has already settled a complaint from EPA relating to the Dieselgate scandal and has racked up 22.6 billion euros ($26.9 billion) in legal costs in North America. A portion of that figure has been set aside to compensate individual US states, as the excess emissions raised their air pollution levels. The company also offered to retrofit more half a million affected cars in the United States.
VW owners affected by Dieselgate have been particularly vocal in demanding compensation
Volkswagen previously settled with Wyoming and most other states over consumer claims for more than $600 million but not over environmental matters.
Had the latest Wyoming lawsuit succeeded, the carmaker could have faced another billion dollars in fines as the emissions-cheating cars were on the roads for several years.
Read more:
VW – ‘combustion engine far from dead’
Volkswagen faces new California fine over ‘Dieselgate’
VW said on Thursday it was satisfied with the judge’s verdict.
“Volkswagen now intends to seek dismissal of all nine similar state actions, and anticipates filing dismissal motions against the states of Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio today,” the company said.
Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 it had installed software to cheat diesel emissions tests. Many of its cars emitted much higher levels of pollution during normal driving conditions than during emissions tests.
Separately on Thursday, the carmaker recalled more than 280,000 vehicles in the US due to defective fuel pumps. But it admitted that the parts to fix the problem were not immediately available.
mm/sms (dpa, Reuters)
Article source: http://www.dw.com/en/volkswagen-likely-spared-billions-as-us-judge-rejects-state-dieselgate-lawsuit/a-40320515?maca=en-rss-en-bus-2091-xml-atom