D The model declaration suit is referred to by some consumer advocates and lawyers as the “Lex Volkswagen”. According to the request of Federal Minister of Justice Katharina Barley (SPD), it should be useful for up to two million Volkswagen customers, whose claims expire at the end of 2018. Even before the entry into force of the model lawsuit for November, the Federal Court (BGH) a few days ago an important decision for diesel owners who have so far hesitated in a joint complaint against their dealer and the car manufacturer:
Who sued the dealer for the return of his diesel and at the same time damages from VW can claim joint liability as a quarrel, it is said in the court decision currently published. The original case, on which legal publications such as the ZPOBlog “Reported, is being tried in the district court Ellwangen.
The regional courts are also responsible for lawsuits against VW
Although the courts of appeal on the seat of the respective VW dealer so far came to a comparable result. But with the – so far known – even the first decision of the Federal Court in the exhaust fraud is clear that the regional courts, where many of the approximately 17,000 individual lawsuits are pending of diesel owners, are also responsible for the lawsuits against VW.
The federal judges argue that a common starting point for the claims against both defendants is the pollutant emissions and fuel consumption of the vehicle sold, the advertising of VW and its influence on the purchase decision of the plaintiff. In addition, the judges took into account the financial imbalance between consumers and VW: Considerations of process economy speak for a lawsuit before a competent court, the judges declare. In addition, VW is a litigation at the headquarters of the respective seller rather reasonable than that all customers at the headquarters of the vehicle manufacturer would have to sue (Az .: X ARZ 303/18).