In the Volkswagen diesel scandal, a process has now begun before the Braunschweig Regional Court. But this is only one of many procedures – an overview.
The Volkswagen affair was a scandal the likes of which had probably never happened before in German economic history: Millions of vehicles around the world had been equipped with software by the VW Group that concealed the true emissions of nitrogen oxide. Billions in settlements and fines followed. In Braunschweig, the criminal process began on Thursday for commercial and gang fraud against four Volkswagen executives at the time. But this is nowhere near the only process in the affair. This is the status of the legal disputes over the diesel scandal at Volkswagen worldwide:
Criminal lawsuits against VW managers in Germany and the USA
Gang-like fraud, market manipulation, violations of due diligence obligations under stock corporation law: the allegations against former VW executives weigh heavily. Since the exhaust gas manipulation became known in 2015, new allegations and criminal charges have been added again and again. According to the Braunschweig public prosecutor, four charges have been brought against a good 20 suspects at VW, including ex-boss Martin Winterkorn. Investigations against a further 70 to 80 suspects are still ongoing, and whether further charges will be brought has not yet been decided.
Former Audi boss Rupert Stadler has also been on trial in Munich since September 2020, Audi is a VW subsidiary. Three co-defendants are in the dock, including Wolfgang Hatz, former Porsche board member and responsible for engine development at VW. At the end of August, the process went into the summer break, and not even half of the scheduled negotiation days have been processed.
Several criminal proceedings have also been discontinued against payments in the millions – for example against Herbert Diess, CEO of VW since 2018 and Hans Dieter Pötsch, currently chairman of the VW supervisory board. Accusations under capital market law had been brought against both of them. Corresponding proceedings against Winterkorn have been suspended for the time being – because of the relatively low expected punishment compared to other offenses. An administrative offense against VW, also for violations of capital market law, was finally discontinued.
In Stuttgart, too, further investigations into allegations of market manipulation at Porsche against Pötsch and the former VW boss Matthias Müller were finally closed. Proceedings against Winterkorn have been suspended for the time being.
Previously, former VW employees had already been convicted abroad: In December 2017, VW manager Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine by a US court in Detroit. VW engineer James Liang was sentenced to 40 months’ imprisonment and a fine in August 2017, also in the United States.
Civil litigation and compensation for Volkswagen customers
According to Volkswagen, “important steps were taken in the past year to press ahead with the legal processing of the diesel crisis in Germany”. As part of a model declaratory action, VW reached a settlement with around 244,000 customers. The total amount paid out was therefore over 750 million euros.
The diesel scandal was also a topic at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on several occasions. In May 2020, the latter decided that Volkswagen owes its customers damages if they bought an affected vehicle before the scandal became known. However, customers must be credited with a compensation for use and return the vehicle concerned. Since this judgment, Volkswagen has come to an agreement with more than 40,000 customers, according to its own information. In July 2020, the BGH also ruled that there were no claims for compensation if the vehicle in question was acquired in September 2015 according to the ad hoc notification from Volkswagen.
However, buyers have no claim to compensation due to the so-called “thermal window”. A plaintiff had argued before the BGH that this was also an inadmissible disconnection device that had been built into a software update. The BGH denied this and dismissed the lawsuit. Thousands of lawsuits are still pending in this matter and more are being added.
In countries such as Australia and Chile, pending proceedings have already been terminated, but class actions are still pending in some EU countries. These include France, Portugal, Belgium and the United Kingdom. According to VW, however, some of the proceedings are still at an early stage.
Investment proceedings – the VW share also suffered from the diesel scandal
Allegations against VW also come from the shareholders. Their allegation: Although the US environmental authority EPA had already published a so-called “Notice of Violation” on September 18, the VW group did not inform its investors about the allegations until September 22. In the meantime, the VW share had lost around 40 percent of its value.
Deka Investment Bank is suing Volkswagen and Porsche in the investor model proceedings before the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court. The test case is based on around 1,650 claims for damages with more than 3,500 participants, the total value of the claims is almost four billion euros.
VW had met its information obligations under capital market law “in good time and in full,” said a company spokeswoman. The decline in the price of the VW share is due to a “paradigm shift in the punishment of environmental violations by the US authorities”. This was “neither predictable nor expected”.
A decision is not expected in the complex process for the time being: Negotiations will take place on November 15 and 16, the process is scheduled until June 2022.
See in the video: Greenpeace and Deutsche Umwelthilfe are targeting BMW, Daimler, VW and the oil and gas company Wintershall DEA.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
