Class Action Lawsuit Could Cost Car-Maker Billions

A month ago, I wrote about how the Volkswagen Emissions Crisis could affect the German Economy. Recently in Australia, Bannister Law filed two class action lawsuits in federal court on behalf of Australian citizens who purchased the defective Volkswagen vehicles. More than 100,000 cars in Australia had been sold with software that manipulated pollution controls.

The basis behind the lawsuit comes down to the fact that the vehicles would not have obtained compliance under the Motor Standards Act of Australia, and therefore should never have been up for sale. Historically, there have been very few class action lawsuits of this size in Australia, and Volkswagen could have to pay billions of dollars in compensation.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is also currently investigating Volkswagen and has warned that the company could face millions of dollars in possible fines for breaking mandatory safety regulations and lying to customers. More than 11 million vehicles globally have been identified as being part of the emissions scam. The wider impact on the German economy would be the jobs lost if Volkswagen were forced to layoff employees. One thing is for sure - the effects of this emissions crisis are not anywhere close to being done for Volkswagen. It is going to be a long and expensive process, as the class action lawsuits are just beginning.