Law firms, likely salivating since news of Volkswagen’s diesel emissions deceit first broke last week, have begun firing a barrage of class-action lawsuits against the company. This completely expected happening comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice opening a criminal investigation into VW’s conduct (as well as the state of California, and other municipal entities), the prospect of massive fines from the EPA, and the stop-sale of all TDI diesel models with VW’s four-cylinder engine in the U.S. and Canada. We’ve received notice of no fewer than five class-action lawsuits, and Automotive News reports that nationwide more than 25 suits have been filed since Friday.
Most of the suits go after VW for duping customers into buying its diesel cars for their eco-friendliness, when it turns out the cars are anything but. The law firm McCuneWright, which participated in the volley of suits against Ford and Hyundai for their inflated EPA fuel-economy numbers, lists no fewer than 11 individual complaints on its suit, ranging from “fraud by concealment” and “violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act” to “Deceit” and “Negligent Misrepresentation.” The other law firms involved sing a similar tune of misrepresented advertising, deceitful sales, and so on.
Volkswagen, for its part, is rumored to have hired Kirkland & Ellis, the same law firm that defended BP after its disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. We contacted VW for confirmation but it was unable to confirm the news at this time. If VW has indeed hired Kirkland & Ellis, it’s a smart move, as we can’t think of a larger, more public affront to the environment in recent times than the BP disaster. With Volkswagen facing a growing litany of civil suits, the government, and possibly even global investigations should other countries find the company duped their emissions tests, it’s going to need a good legal team.
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