I In the wake of the lawsuit concerning the diesel exhaust scandal, the first decision of the highest civil judges at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) indicates. In the meantime, the claim of a car buyer for revision is pending (Ref. VIII ZR 78/18). In all likelihood, negotiations will not be held this year, a court spokeswoman in Karlsruhe said on request.
Alone against the Volkswagen Group and its dealers have complained to VW statements to date, a good 20,000 customers. In addition, there are thousands who have gone to court over a sort of class action lawsuit. According to a VW spokesman, there are now about 4500 judgments mainly from district courts and about a dozen judgments of higher regional courts. As a result, in most cases the claims were dismissed.
Numerous individual judgments
How the Supreme Court decides is enormously important. His case law provides the line for all future judgments on the same facts. Because in the scandal many different questions are in the room, but is not to be reckoned with the one fundamental judgment that decides everything in one fell swoop. It is rather to be expected that the legal situation will gradually be clarified by numerous individual judgments.
In that case, the driver of a Skoda wants to impose a price reduction of 20 percent on his car dealer. The diesel car had an illegal shutdown device in 2013, which reduces the exhaust gas during normal operation on the road and thus ensures increased emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides. Meanwhile, the software has been updated. The applicant claims that this entailed technical disadvantages. In addition, the car is generally flawed because of the exhaust gas scandal. So far, the man had no success. Most recently, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Dresden had decided that he had not proven both concrete. Vague fears are not enough. The last word is the BGH.
There is a second diesel case in which the OLG Bamberg had not approved the revision. The plaintiff has lodged an appeal.
Public prosecutor may evaluate internal VW files
In the diesel scandal investigators are allowed after a year of delay extensive documents from a commissioned by VW evaluate the working firm. The Federal Constitutional Court dismissed several constitutional complaints against seizure, as was announced on Friday in Karlsruhe. Volkswagen AG was not violated either in its right to informational self-determination or in its right to a fair trial, it was said in the grounds.
The dispute revolves around data and files, which were secured in March 2017 during a search of the Munich business premises of the law firm Jones Day. This law firm is working on the exhaust scandal for the carmaker internally. At the end of July 2017, the Constitutional Court suspended the evaluation of the documents in an urgent decision pending a decision on the constitutional lawsuits. This decision is now available – to the detriment of VW. (Az 2 BvR 1287/17 et al.)