Drivers chase VW damages in new legal battle
Scots lawyers battle car giant as it agrees £15bn payout
THOUSANDS of Scottish Volkswagen vehicle owners are stepping up their fight for compensation as lawyers prepare a pan-European “fight for justice” in the wake of a historic $15 billion settlement in the US.
Patrick McGuire, the solicitor spearheading the battle for “defeat device” damages in Scotland condemned the car giant for expecting its European customers to “keep quiet and go away” despite the federal court ruling, believed to be the largest civil settlement involving a carmaker in US legal history.
Mr McGuire, a partner at Thompsons Solicitors, which is representing 400 car owners in Scotland, said the firm was working with colleagues across Europe to mount a challenge against VW’s refusal to pay compensation to consumers on this side of the Atlantic.
Mr McGuire said: “We have a situation here where Hinrich Woebcken, president and chief executive of Volkswagen America, said this week that the [US] settlement was ‘an important milestone in our journey to making things right’. But in Europe people are just expected to keep quiet and go away.
“Well, I can tell VW right now that is simply not going to happen. My firm is working with lawyers in the Republic of Ireland, Germany and other European nations to present a continent-wide fight for justice for these consumers. We are very confident of success and will be holding a meeting in Brussels soon.”
It comes after a federal court judge in San Francisco ordered the German car giant pay out up to $10bn (£12.3bn) to cover the cost of modifying cars to make them road legal again. Alternatively, owners can choose to “trade in” their cars at pre-scandal value. The settlement will also see the manufacturer contribute almost $5bn to fund green car initiatives to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Owners will reportedly also receive up to $10,000 (£8,200) each in damages depending on how old their vehicles are to cover depreciation in value caused by the company’s fraud.
More than 1.2 million drivers in the UK, including tens of thousands in Scotland, unwittingly purchased cars fitted with software designed to distort readings during diesel emissions tests.
However, the manufacturer has repeatedly refused to pay damages to owners of affected VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda models in Europe.
VW did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. However, a spokeswoman for the company in the UK previously said there was no buyback deal or compensation for drivers outside the US “because the relevant facts and complex legal issues that have played a role in coming to these agreements are materially different from those in Europe and other parts of the world”.
She added that regulations governing nitrogen oxide emissions limit were “much stricter” in the US than elsewhere, and that engine variants also differ “significantly” in the US. She said: “This makes the development of technical solutions in the United States more challenging than in Europe and other parts of the world.” AN evocative image of Corporal Sean Neill kissing his young daughter after his regiment’s homecoming parade through Glasgow has won an army photographic award.
Mark Owens, an Edinburghbased photographer for the Ministry of Defence, was awarded the Best Online Image at the Army Photographic Competition, which was announced at London’s Imperial War Museum.
Corporal Neil, of Kilmarnock, of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, was pictured after returning from Afghanistan.