VW Says Former Diesel Car Owners Suffered No Harm

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VW urged a federal judge to trim claims in a class action filed by diesel car owners who sold their vehicles before the infamous “defeat device” scandal was revealed.

Lead plaintiffs alleged in their class action lawsuit that they have been excluded from several other class actions, but suffered losses due to the lowered value of their VW vehicles equipped with the so-called defeat device.

VW argues that former owners who sold their cars or ended their leases before regulators revealed in September 2015 that the company had included a device designed to “defeat” or falsely lower emissions testing results do not have a claim because they suffered no loss.

The car company claims that those who sold their VW or Audi vehicles before the scandal broke are trying to cash in on a “windfall” even though the value of their vehicle was not affected at the time they transferred ownership.

VW points out that in previous class actions over the emissions scandal, plaintiffs dropped proposed Classes including VW owners and lessees who sold their vehicles before the scandal hit.

“Notably, the [Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s (PSC)] original consolidated consumer class complaint incorporated the Pre-[Notices of Violation (NOV)] Plaintiffs into its broad class definition, which included ‘all persons and entities in the United States who purchased or leased’ …vehicles at any time,” states VW in its motion to dismiss the class action. “But the PSC elected to drop any purported claims on behalf of owners and lessees who sold or stopped leasing their vehicles before the NOVs, with their own expert noting that ‘individuals who sold their vehicles prior to disclosure of the fraud . . . suffered no economic harm, since they sold their vehicles before the announcement of the fraud and the resulting price drop of the vehicles.'”

This VW class action lawsuit is trying to make VW pay twice, claims the car-maker, by compensating owners and lessees both before and after the defeat device scandal dropped.

However, the former VW owners and lessees argue in their class action lawsuit that they purchased their VW or Audi vehicles under the false pretense that the cars were environmentally friendly. The former owners allege that they suffered harm, even though they were unaware, because they paid more for vehicles that were advertised as emitting less pollution.

VW counters by claiming that the plaintiffs did not adequately establish that they paid a premium for their VW and Audi vehicles based on environmental factors.

“The Complaint does not plead what portion, if any, of the diesel model price was supposedly attributable specifically to lower NOx emissions, as opposed to other beneficial performance aspects of diesel models that the Pre-NOV Plaintiffs concede they obtained,” contends VW in its motion to dismiss.

The plaintiffs are represented by Shana E. Scarlett and Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and Stuart M. Paynter of The Paynter Law Firm PLLC.

The Volkswagen Former Owners 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.

UPDATE: On Aug. 24, 2018, Volkswagen tried to ditch another emissions class action lawsuit, this time filed by drivers who sold their cars before the scandal broke in which the company admitted to using software to defraud emissions regulators.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 15, 2019, former VW car owners who say they overpaid for their diesel vehicles face another motion to dismiss their Volkswagen emissions cheating class action lawsuit.