Edmonton firm files $1B class action lawsuit against Volkswagen

An Edmonton law firm has fileda$1-billion class action lawsuit against Volkswagenover the emerging emissions scandal.

James H. Brown & Associates is suing the car company afterit was revealedthis weekend that Volkswagen had installed software on 11 million vehicles worldwide designed to ace emissions tests, but without meeting standards.

• Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen CEO, resigns amid emissions scandal
• VW's personal betrayal a sad lesson in business morality: Don Pittis
• Volkswagen Canada halts some sales as emissions rigging scandal deepens

The lawsuit states that"by manufacturing, testing, distributingand selling affected vehicles with defeat devices that allowed for improper levels of emission, Volkswagen violated the common law and legislative standards, was negligent, defrauded its customers, and engaged in unfair competition."

The notice identified the following models in the action:

• 2009-2015 Jetta
• 2009-2015 Beetle
• 2009-2015 VW Golf
• 2014-2015 Passat
• 2009-2015 Audi A3

The lawsuit states that, had the plaintiffs known of the defeat device, "they would not have purchased or leased those vehicles, or would have paid substantially less for the vehicles than they did."

'Highhanded and reckless'

It goes on to criticize the deception as "high-handed and reckless, intentional, fraudulent or grossly negligent," worthy of apenalty that "recognizes the purposes of class actions" while protectingconsumers and punishing or deterring "wrongful corporate conduct."

"What we're hearing from a lot of people is the realconcern loss of value to the vehicle on resale, the hassle they're going to have to go through to get repairedso they meet Canadian emission standards,and whether in fact the vehiclescan even be repaired without significant loss to power and performance," said Rick Mallet, lawyer withJames H. Brown and Associates.

"The exact amount is up the court to determine initially, but it seems to be pretty clear it's going to be thousands of dollars per vehicle."

Volkswagenhas set aside almost $10 billion Cdn to update the vehicles, but that figure doesn't include any fines or legal costs.

The Environmental Protection Agencysays it could fine the company as much as $18 billion US, and other countries have launched probes into the issue.

More than two dozen class-action lawsuits have already been launched, including ones byRegina-based lawyer Tony Merchant,who hasfiled claims in the courts of B.C., Ontario and Quebec and expects to file soon in Saskatchewan and other provinces.

Filing a class action lawsuit is afirst step in the litigation of alleged claims.