Volkswagen Seeks Dismissal of Pre-Scandal Class Action Lawsuit

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Former VW car owners who say they overpaid for their diesel vehicles face another motion to dismiss their Volkswagen emissions cheating class action lawsuit.

Lead plaintiffs in this VW class action alleged that they suffered financial loss because they paid a premium for their Volkswagen vehicles based on marketing that stated the cars had a low-emissions feature.

The series of class action lawsuits filed against the automaker were consolidated into multidistrict litigation against Volkswagen. The car maker has filed a number of motions to dismiss the former owners’ class action lawsuit.

Volkswagen has argued that Class Members suffered no harm from the alleged cheat device since they sold their cars before the scandal broke.

Most recently, the car maker contends in another motion to dismiss the VW class action lawsuit that despite amending the complaint, the plaintiffs still cannot establish that they have suffered any harm from the Volkswagen cheat device or emissions scandal.

“The court correctly rejected this theory of injury and should do so again: The ‘full diesel premium’ included the value of the other benefits of diesel the [drivers] indisputably received,” states Volkswagen in its motion to dismiss the VW class action.

According to the car maker, the fact that Volkswagen owners paid a premium for a “clean diesel” vehicle has already been rejected by a California federal court.

The former VW owners contend that they paid more based on representations that they were buying a low emission vehicle. However, Volkswagen asked the court to reject this argument.

“In fact, there is no basis to believe that any such premium ever depreciated,” argues Volkswagen in its motion to dismiss. “Throughout [their] possession of the vehicles, neither the [drivers] nor the later purchaser had any reason to believe that the vehicles would not continue to comply with emissions standards throughout their full useful life, even after resale.”

Former Volkswagen owners launched the class action lawsuit against the car maker after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that its vehicles were equipped with software that allowed them to circumvent emissions testing.

Had they known that the so called “clean diesel” vehicles they purchased from Volkswagen had these defeat devices, say the plaintiffs, they would not have paid as much for them.

Plaintiffs’ counsel are Steve W. Berman, Robert B. Carey and Shana E. Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Stuart M. Paynter and Celeste H.G. Boyd of The Paynter Law Firm PLLC.

The Volkswagen Former Owners and Lessees Cheat Device Class Action Lawsuit is Jennifer Nemet, et al. v. Volkswagen Group of America Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-04372, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Volkswagen MDL is In re: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices and Product Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:15-md-02672, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.