Without admissions in respect of liability, causation, or loss, the Volkswagen Group has reached an out-of-court settlement to resolve the 91,000 claims in the British collective action featuring the 2015 emissions scandal known as “dieselgate”.
Claimants will be paid £193 million, as well as a contribution towards legal costs and other fees. Further terms and conditions of the settlement were not disclosed.
“The Volkswagen Group is pleased that we have been able to conclude this long-running litigation in England & Wales,” said Volkswagen AG chief legal officer Philip Haarmann, whose camp also issued an apology for the two-mode software installed in certain Volkswagen vehicles with EA189 diesel engines which essentially cheated emissions tests.
“The settlement is another important milestone as the Volkswagen Group continues to move beyond the deeply regrettable events leading up to September 2015.”
Of the 91,000 claims, more than 71,000 were represented by Slater and Gordon, while PGMBM acted on behalf of over 15,000 claimants. Leigh Day and Slater and Gordon were co-lead solicitors in the litigation.
“We are passionate about securing the best possible outcome for our customers,” commented Slater and Gordon chief executive David Whitmore, “and I am immensely proud of this result. Over the last five years, Slater and Gordon have rightly dedicated a significant and unwavering commitment to this case, providing an expert voice to around 70,000 claimants.
“The settlement avoids the need for a lengthy, complex, and expensive trial process, and we are delighted to have achieved this settlement for our customers as a result of the group action.”
Separately, in 2021, the automaker’s supervisory board reached an agreement with former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn and ex-Audi CEO Rupert Stadler for them to pay the German company €11.2 million and €4.1 million, respectively, in connection with dieselgate.
At the time, Volkswagen also revealed that it would receive €270 million from its directors’ and officers’ liability insurers.
Back in the UK – where the manufacturer said it will continue to work to rebuild customers’ trust – Slater and Gordon expect the process of paying out the majority of claimants to take around five weeks. According to the law firm, the now-settled case is thought to be the biggest group action in the UK’s legal history in terms of claimant count.
Leigh Day’s Bozena Michalowska and Shazia Yamin jointly stated: “We are pleased that Volkswagen has repeated its sincere apology for the use of the prohibited two-mode software. We are delighted that this case has finally been settled for our clients and the claimants in the NOx emissions litigation.
“We have been unwavering in our belief in our clients’ case; that is why we have fought long and hard for this outcome. We are clear that it was in the interest of our clients to settle this early.”
The settlement – which PGMBM partner and consumer protection litigation head Tony Winterburn described as the culmination of five years of hard-fought litigation – has no bearing on any other claims relating to other engines in England & Wales or any other jurisdiction, and applies only to claims in the Volkswagen NOx emissions group case.
