VW Owners Begin Diesel Lawsuit in London

Lawyers representing more than 50,000 owners of Volkswagen brand diesels have begun a three-day hearing in London’s High Court in hopes of combining their demands for compensation for engines that were rigged to evade emission standards.

Qualifying for a group litigation order would be similar to a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. The designation would enable a single British court to handle claims by as many as 1.2 million owners in the U.K., making it the country’s largest group action ever.

VW has agreed to pay $25 million in the U.S. for fines, owner restitution payments, environmental remediation and vehicle repairs and buybacks covering 555,000 diesels it sold there. The company has so far avoided any such payments in Europe, where it admits selling 8.5 million of the rigged diesels.

Reuters says the proposed U.K. group action would include owners of diesels sold by VW Group’s Audi, SEAT and Skoda brands. The lawsuit also could be joined by consumers who agreed to a software update by VW but say the repair reduced engine power, fuel economy and overall performance.