Volkswagen
The group has already booked costs of around 32 billion euros for the scandal – mostly for fines in the USA.
(Photo: dpa)
Columbus Volkswagen suffered a major defeat in a US legal battle over possible further high fines in the “Dieselgate” scandal. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can pursue sanctions against the automaker for systematic emissions manipulation that go beyond the penalties already agreed at the US federal level.
For VW, regional proceedings like this one in Ohio are explosive – the Wolfsburg-based car company could again face fines worth billions.
When asked, Volkswagen announced that it wanted to bring the case to the US Supreme Court, the American Supreme Court. The group is of the opinion that claims by individual states in the emissions scandal are compensated for by penalties and compensation that VW had to pay for violating the nationwide Clean Air Act. Several other US courts have come to this assessment in similar cases.
“This is a significant decision that will ensure that Volkswagen can be held accountable for its behavior,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in a statement.
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It has not yet been decided how the state will proceed in the case, but the Ohio Supreme Court has ordered that the doors be opened for a trial. “We will seek justice,” announced Attorney General Yost.
The Ohio ruling poses a high financial risk for VW, as the court’s decision shows. The judges were 6-1 in favor of allowing further penalties against the company.
Multiple lawsuits in other states
Judge Michael Donnelly, who was the only one against it, put the additional fines that VW could theoretically incur as “more than a trillion dollars”. Ohio is just one of several locations – the automaker has faced similar lawsuits in other US states.
In September 2015, under pressure from the US environmental authorities, VW admitted that it had manipulated the exhaust technology of diesel cars for years with special software (“Defeat Device”). The group has already booked costs of around 32 billion euros for the scandal – mostly for fines in the USA.
But VW could face further expensive sanctions. In June 2020, an appeals court ruled that despite settlements that had already been concluded, additional penalties were permissible at the regional level.
This involved lawsuits from two districts in the states of Florida and Utah, which could, however, also point the way nationwide. The appellate judges had stated that they were aware that their decision could lead to “breathtaking burdens” for VW.
Based on the regional catalogs of fines in the two districts alone, the fines could potentially amount to up to $ 11.2 billion per year. In this case, VW had already turned to the US Supreme Court in the capital Washington in January to prevent additional fines.
More: VW is facing new problems in the diesel scandal in France