A recent decision by the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) also gives new impetus to the diesel lawsuits of those affected in Austria. Therefore, consumers are also entitled to compensation if illegal but officially approved defeat devices with thermal glazing are installed in their vehicles. In principle, buyers of affected cars are entitled to compensation of 5 to 15 percent of the purchase price, the BGH ruled. For this, the opinion of an expert is not necessary.
However, what this means for procedures in which expert reports attest to greater damage remains open for the time being. Linz attorney Michael Poduschka considers it likely that the range of 5 to 15 percent of the purchase price specified by the BGH represents a lower limit. If there is an expert report that determines greater damage at the time of purchase of the car, this must be taken into account when assessing the compensation.
“The BGH judgment is sensational because, for the first time in Central Europe, a national supreme court has awarded damages to prevent perpetrators from violating European protective laws,” said Poduschka of the Austrian Press Agency. “In times of industrialized fraud, this has long been expected.” In the diesel scandal, Poduschka is pursuing around 1,000 individual lawsuits against Volkswagen and VW dealerships and is also representing the Consumer Information Association in over 10 class actions involving around 10,000 victims.
The consumer protection association’s chief lawyer, Peter Kolba, also sees new impetus in diesel shares following the BGH decision. Owners of cars with the VW EA 288 and Daimler engines can now also take part in fundraising campaigns for the consumer protection association in Germany free of charge.
VW and subsidiary Audi told the Austria Press Agency that the BGH had not made any determination as to whether there was a claim for reimbursement of any reduced amount. The appellate courts must now clarify whether this allegation exists. In the opinion of Volkswagen and Audi, the damage claim requirements are not met in either case and therefore the lawsuits must be dismissed. Volkswagen and Audi would presume that the appellate courts would reject a claim for a reduction in value.
Stadler, former head of Audi, is convicted
Meanwhile, the Munich district court sentenced former Audi boss Rupert Stadler to a suspended prison sentence of one year and nine months. The court found him guilty of fraud on Tuesday.
The two co-accused – former head of engine development and later Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz and engineer P. – received suspended sentences from the court for fraud.
These are the first criminal trials in Germany in the diesel scandal uncovered in 2015 that rocked the entire industry and caused billions in damage. Hatz and engineer P. confessed to being careful handling diesel engines. In doing so, they met the emission values on the test bench, but throttled the emissions control on the road. Stadler admitted it was too late to stop selling rigged cars. The judgments are not yet final. (kle/ag.)