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VW Emissions Class Action Harcus Sinclair

shudycamps

shudycamps

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T5 SE 140 4Motion
I noted this class action being filed based on the success rate and compensation US VW owners are enjoying; £8000 according to BBC 1 this morning. On Saturday, I hopped onto their website and read the conditions one had to legally agree to. I thought hmm, thus resisted the urge for possible compensation of £3000 (as opposed to £8000). During discussions on the Beeb this morning, the financial section, VW broke the law in the USA but not Europe. The UK class action lawsuit is going to be based on moral honour, plus the financial backs of the people who sign up to a legal binding financial agreement! The financial guru said inasmuch as no European emissions law have been broken it is very doubtful that VW would pay out to UK owners due to hurt feelings. And that VW has increased sales. Read, before signing up!
 
I noted this class action being filed based on the success rate and compensation US VW owners are enjoying; £8000 according to BBC 1 this morning. On Saturday, I hopped onto their website and read the conditions one had to legally agree to. I thought hmm, thus resisted the urge for possible compensation of £3000 (as opposed to £8000). During discussions on the Beeb this morning, the financial section, VW broke the law in the USA but not Europe. The UK class action lawsuit is going to be based on moral honour, plus the financial backs of the people who sign up to a legal binding financial agreement! The financial guru said inasmuch as no European emissions law have been broken it is very doubtful that VW would pay out to UK owners due to hurt feelings. And that VW has increased sales. Read, before signing up!
From Slater Gordon 09/01/16 by email.
Proposed Group Action

We have got good news. We are now in a position to commence legal action against Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Skoda Auto a.s., SEAT S.A. and Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (jointly “VW”).

We’re alleging fraudulent behaviour (deceit) in respect of fitting your vehicles with the defeat device, cheating emissions tests and hoodwinking the UK authorities into allowing non-compliant vehicles to be sold to members of the public. We’re also seeking damages from any adverse effect of the ‘fix’ and in addition punitive damages. Punitive damages are damages intended to hold VW to account rather than just compensate vehicle owners and are only available in certain circumstances.

In order to bring the claim in the most cost effective manner for you all, we’ve teamed up with another law firm, Harcus Sinclair, to sue VW and leading barristers have been instructed who are experts in their field; so we’re confident you’ll have the best possible legal team fighting your case.

Finally we’ve applied to the court to ask that they make a Group Litigation Order so that this case can be managed as a Group Action.

How to become a claimant in the Group Action

Currently you’re not clients of Slater and Gordon or part of the Group Action. In order to become a client, and thereby officially part of the Group Action, you will need to register at www.vwemissionsaction.com. This website also contains all the documents you’ll need to read before you can become a client and contains an FAQ section which will answer any questions you have.

You can join the Group Action even if you have sold the car; had the fix carried out; not had the fix carried out; own the car jointly or purchased via VW’s (and Audi / SEAT / Skoda’s) own financing service.

No win No Fee Arrangement

We’ve been very busy agreeing the terms of the funding for this claim and are pleased to confirm that we will run the claim on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. This is in conjunction with a Third Party Litigation Funder which importantly means you will only pay the funder if we win at trial or settle by negotiation. Just as importantly you will not pay the funder anything for our fees or those of our experts and barristers if we lose. We’ve also secured an indemnity from the funder for adverse costs so that you will not need to pay VW’s fees if the Group action loses.

In order to pay for this the funder will look for a deduction of around 30% from your compensation. This is to pay for (a) litigation funders investment; (b) our costs; (c) Harcus Sinclair’s costs; (d) counsels’ costs; (e) expert’s costs; (f) court fees. This means you will keep around 70% of your compensation.

Full details of the fee agreements you will need to review and agree can be found at www.vwemissionsaction.com.

Why should you sue VW?

Although we think the compensation per vehicle will be modest, we’re keen to highlight not only the fraud you’ve suffered, but also the damage to the environment your vehicles have unlawfully caused. We’re also determined to hold accountable a multinational corporate giant who has seen fit to lie and cheat its way to greater profitability at your expense.

What are the details of the claim?

The full legal claim which we’re proposing can be found in a document called the Generic Particulars of Claim which can be accessed at www.vwemissionsaction.com.

Committee

In order to keep costs low, we’ve set up a committee of five claimants who we’ll communicate with and take instructions from. The committee in turn will communicate with the claimant group as a whole. When you sign up you’ll be required to agree to the Joint Terms of Business of Slater and Gordon and Harcus Sinclair and to the Authority Document which will make the committee your agents to act on your behalf during the litigation. This is so that the claim can be managed as efficiently as possible and to reduce the cost of running the litigation. Full details and an in-depth explanation can be found at www.vwemissionsaction.com.

Next Steps

If you want to join the action and become an official part of the litigation, please sign up at www.vwemissionsaction.com as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please do not email or call Slater and Gordon directly. Instead, we’ve set up a dedicated website with FAQs to help with your queries at www.vwemmissionsaction.com/faqs.

Once you’ve signed up and are a client, we’ll be in touch as to the next steps.
 
Wait for the deluge of people jumping on the bandwagon:

I note that the FCA are proposing to put a time limit on PPI claims.

Be prepared for that small army of intensely irritating cold-callers to turn their attention to any poor VW owner who's telephone number comes there way.

"Hello, have you been misleadingly sold a VW Car, van or MAN truck? Model-sized T2? Ornamental mug or Keyring with VW emblazoned on it? If so you may be entitled to compensation.... "

Which of course will then bring in the ambulance chasers ..... "Did you hurt yourself falling over when you heard your emissions have been fiddled? Call Injury-lawyers-for-you....."

Followed by bleeding-heart television adverts: "just three pounds a month could save this poor golf from being crushed by emission zone legislation..... "

It's just going to run and run...

:):):):):)
 
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I note that the FCA are proposing to put a time limit on PPI claims.

Be prepared for that small army of intensely irritating cold-callers to turn their attention to any poor VW owner who's telephone number comes there way.

"Hello, have you been misleadingly sold a VW Car, van or MAN truck? Model-sized T2? Ornamental mug or Keyring with VW emblazoned on it? If so you may be entitled to compensation.... "
You are probably right! Thanks for the warning.
 
I have recorded what was said on the Beeb and can transcribe, but the crux is what I said in my original posting. VW broke no EU law regarding emissions and the suit can only be judged on moral grounds. Not only by the UK, but the remaining 27 EU countries. High doubt that VW would pay out on those grounds. The current PPI on miss sold insurance was and is against the law. I have been successful on two claims with two more to go. Whey Hey! I also nore in the above solicitor''s statement: "non-compliant" and "are only available in certain circumstances." What G&S said above differs from what I read in the down loaded documents from Harcus that specifically stated class action clients will meet shortfalls and I don't recall seeing 30% and 70% in those documents. I will have a more thorough read.
 
As the owner of an affected vehicle if get a cold call regarding this then they will get a smartish verbal two finger salute.
Like the vast majority we didn't buy the vehicle based on emissions rather than it suited our requirements.
OK, I'm very slightly peeved that I was lied to but VW have owned up, offered to sort it for nothing and I and others have not suffered any financial loss.
Personally I hope this will go nowhere, bloody American sue for everything culture.
All VW will do is increase prices to cover the costs to everyone's disadvantage.
 
I read somewhere that US omissions standards are far more stringent than ours and that their cars can't necessarily be fixed to comply with regs. My understanding is that in the UK all cars affected can be rectified quite easily so I don't really understand the basis for compensation. I doubt used values are affected and VW are still the biggest car producer in the world (I think) so confidence hasn't been dented.
 
VW didn't cheat uk tests, residuals are as good as they were in the past ( better than a lot of manufacturers) and today I'm getting new injectors on my 6 year old golf and a free courtesy car. Can't see anyone winning in the uk.
 
I read somewhere that US omissions standards are far more stringent than ours and that their cars can't necessarily be fixed to comply with regs. My understanding is that in the UK all cars affected can be rectified quite easily so I don't really understand the basis for compensation. I doubt used values are affected and VW are still the biggest car producer in the world (I think) so confidence hasn't been dented.

Number two in the world now. It must be the T6 Cancellations in the light of roof-rot disclosures :shocked

I keep reading your nick as RosBoeuf, can't see any yorkshire puddings in the pic though :D
 
Some interesting points of view on the Emissions Scandal.

Simple questions, If you are a T6 owner and bought it as complying with Euro 6 Emissions regulations and then in a few years time discovered that it was not complying with that regulation and therefore technically illegal to use on the road. Would you feel that VW had mis-sold or cheated you? Broken EU law? Caused further health issues to the public at large from illegal pollution gases?

I believe 15,000 have signed up to the law suit.
 
Some interesting points of view on the Emissions Scandal.

Simple questions, If you are a T6 owner and bought it as complying with Euro 6 Emissions regulations and then in a few years time discovered that it was not complying with that regulation and therefore technically illegal to use on the road. Would you feel that VW had mis-sold or cheated you? Broken EU law? Caused further health issues to the public at large from illegal pollution gases?

I believe 15,000 have signed up to the law suit.
I think you will find that VW vehicles in the USA did not comply with USA regulations. VW vehicles sold in EU did comply with Euro 5 regulations, well as well as all the other manufacturers, even though they were fitted with the cheat software.
Hence VW fixed the vehicles in the USA and payed compensation. Not the case in the EU.
Not quit the same as the example you quoted.
 
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I think you will find that VW vehicles in the USA did not comply with USA regulations. VW vehicles sold in EU did comply with Euro 5 regulations, well as well as all the other manufacturers, even though they were fitted with the cheat software.
Hence VW fixed the vehicles in the USA and payed compensation. Not the case in the EU.
Not quit the same as the example you quoted.
I think you will find that VW didn't fix the cars but did a buy back in the USA as a relatively small number of diesels sold there.
I didn't quote the USA by the way. Not really interested in the USA side personally.

You say even though cheat software was fitted. Why then was cheat software required?
 
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Cheated software was fitted because one piece of software for all those vehicles whichever country they went to. If you have seen the videos of the software working ( cheating) you would see that if would only work when it knew it was being tested not when running day to day and as American test if different. It has had no impact on U.K.
 
I think you will find that VW didn't fix the cars but did a buy back in the USA as a relatively small number of diesels sold there.
I didn't quote the USA by the way. Not really interested in the USA side personally.

You say even though cheat software was fitted. Why then was cheat software required?
That is the whole basis of the VW emissions scandal, the USA. The Defeat software was programmed into the EMU to pass the USA emissions test. It wasn't required for the EU 5 test. I'm not even sure it was used for the EU tests.
Those 15,000 are jumping on a band wagon that may never arrive, and if it does the only ones that will make on it will be the organisers etc : of this class action.
 
Played Devils Advocat on this and certainly have succeeded.

How do we know that the cheating device didn't effect EU testing?
Are the VW quoted emission levels true?
Has it had a long term effect on city pollution contributing to diesels being banned there now?

I don't know the answers and as no UK Official bodies are taking action to either publish their findings or take action it seems that those jumping on the band wagon to make VW accountable is entirely logical in passing it to the High Court to decide either way.

The EU Commission are still investigating.
 
I'm still waiting for someone to point to the paragraph in the regulations that's says it's not allowed.
 
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