VW Agrees To $96.5M Fuel Economy Class Action Settlement

A proposed settlement has been filed in federal court in which Volkswagen AG will pay $96.5 million to consumers who claim that the German car company misled them regarding the fuel economy of their vehicles.

The motion for preliminary approval states that the members of the Class will receive lump-sum payments ranging from $518.40 to $2,332.80 depending on how long they have owned the cars and the new fuel economy ratings.  

The motion states that if there is money left over after all payments have been made to Class Members, the money will not be diverted to the defendants, but will be used towards “environmental causes,” which will ensure that the entire settlement money benefits the Class.

“As set forth in Plaintiffs’ operative Amended Consolidated Consumer Class Action Complaint (the ‘Amended Complaint’), this case concerns specific Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and Bentley-branded gasoline vehicles for which the MPG represented to regulators and consumers was inflated by up to 1 MPG and will be revised accordingly,” the proposed VW class action settlement states.

The plaintiffs also allege that a software program called the “Warm-up Program” that is embedded inside the vehicles were the cause of the fuel economy ratings to be inflated. The settlement agreement states that the “Warm-up Program” operates during testing conditions, but not during on-road driving.

The motion states that in November 2016 a German newspaper wrote that the California Air Resources Board uncovered a discrepancy in results of vehicle testing and suspected that Audi had installed an “emissions cheating device” in some of their models.  

After the article was published, numerous class action lawsuits were filed across the country and were subsequently consolidated under MDL No. 2672 as In re: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation.

“Plaintiffs and the proposed Settlement Class operated the Class Vehicles without obtaining the reported fuel efficiency and while emitting higher CO2. As a result of this discrepancy, Class Members paid for more fuel, and were inconvenienced by more frequent trips to the fuel pump, throughout the duration of their ownership or lease,” the settlement agreement states.

The motion for preliminary approval of the settlement also notes that the detailed claims about the Warm-up program technology show the tedious process which was undertaken by the Class attorneys to assert the Class claims and the cures available to those harmed.

The settlement Class is defined as, “a nationwide class, including Puerto Rico, of all persons (including individuals and entities) who own, owned, lease, or leased a Class Vehicle in the United States or its territories as of the date of the Motion for Preliminary Approval.”

The motion for preliminary approval of the settlement notes that each Class Member will receive money based on 1) “the difference in cost for the amount of gasoline that would have been required under the original Monroney fuel economy label and the greater amount required under the adjusted fuel economy label” and 2) a goodwill payment of an addition 15 percent.

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The VW owners are represented by lead counsel Elizabeth J. Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and plaintiffs’ steering committee members Benjamin L. Bailey of Bailey & Glasser LLP, Roland K. Tellis of Baron & Budd PC, W. Daniel Miles III of Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles PC, Lesley E. Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, J. Gerard Stranch IV of Branstetter Stranch & Jennings PLLC, James E. Cecchi of Carella Byrne Cecchi Olstein Brody & Agnello PC, David S. Casey Jr. of Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP, Frank Mario Pitre of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP, Rosemary M. Rivas of Levi & Korsinsky LLP, Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Adam J. Levitt of DiCello Levitt & Casey LLC, Michael D. Hausfeld of Hausfeld LLP, Michael Everett Heygood of Heygood Orr & Pearson, Lynn Lincoln Sarko of Keller Rohrback LLP, Joseph F. Rice of Motley Rice LLC, Paul J. Geller of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and Roxanne Barton Conlin of Roxanne Conlin & Associates PC.

The Volkswagen Inflated Fuel Economy Class Action Lawsuit 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.

UPDATE: March 2020, the VW fuel economy class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

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