Historic Settlement Approved in Wake of VW Emissions Cheating Scandal

A federal judge approved one of the largest settlements in U.S. history earlier this week, paving the way for German auto giant Volkswagen to make amends with U.S. owners of VWs (Beetles, Golfs, Jettas and Passats) as well as Audis impacted by the emissions cheating scandal.  U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer approved the $14.7 billion deal and the automaker said it would begin buying back polluting cars in mid-November. Read More.

Now, motorists can have their cars bought back or modified by VW and also receive cash compensation. In addition, leases covering the impacted cars can be terminated. Read More.

The San Francisco judge signed off on VW’s settlement with federal and California regulators and the owners of the 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles – as the world’s No. 2 automaker works to repair damage from a scandal revealed over a year ago.  Since the controversy emerged, VW sales have plummeted. Read More.

VW first came under fire in Sept. of 2015 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused  it of utilizing software designed to dupe federal emission regulators into believing their cars met Clean Air Act Standards. According to reports, once the cars were out of the lab, emissions control software was deactivated – the vehicles then actually emitted dangerous pollutants at rates of up to 40 times acceptable standards. Read More.

After the scandal was reported, CaseyGerry filed a class action on behalf of several consumers – seeking compensation for them and those similarly affected by Volkswagen’s fraud and violation of state regulations. A national VW Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee was formed with a goal of avoiding duplicative discovery, conserving resources and expediting resolution. Under leadership of chair Elizabeth Cabraser of Leiff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, the MDL steering committee was appointed by Judge Breyer to conduct the pretrial stage of all cases consolidated in the United States District Court, Northern District of California in San Francisco.

“This historic agreement holds Volkswagen accountable for its betrayal of consumer trust, and requires Volkswagen to repair the environmental damage it caused,” said Elizabeth Cabraser, Court-appointed Lead Counsel and chair of the 21 member Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC), which negotiated the settlement on behalf of class members. “To achieve relief for consumers so swiftly on such a large scale is unprecedented.”

Read More.

CaseyGerry partner David S. Casey, Jr. is the only San Diego attorney serving on the national Multidistrict Litigation Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee overseeing the litigation targeting VW. Read More.

Terms of the settlement are available at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/crb/vwmdl/proposed-settlement.

VW also has a site, vwcourtsettlement.com, with settlement details and instructions.