{"id":1074,"date":"2016-02-02T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/2016\/02\/02\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-14-7b-in-largest-settle\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T00:00:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T04:00:56","slug":"volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen Agrees to Pay $14.7B in Largest Settlement in a Consumer Class Action Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action  claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal. This large penalty  approaches the $18.7 settlement that BP reached last year to resolve all  federal, state and local claims against it. At the time, it was the largest  civil settlement with any single entity in the U.S. Volkswagen&rsquo;s  settlement marks the largest settlement in national history for a consumer  class action; $14.7 billion constitutes nearly a fifth of the company&rsquo;s  value. To put the number into perspective, it is more than ten times the  amount Toyota paid up in 2012 over flawed accelerators, and far exceeds  the $2 billion that General Motors recently agreed to pay in fines and  settlements for defective ignition switches. The previous record penalty  for violating emissions limits was $100 million, which was imposed on  Hyundai-Kia in 2014.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Steep Penalty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> The size of the penalty, standing alone, demonstrates the Justice Department&rsquo;s  disdain for the automaker&rsquo;s deceptive practices. Deputy Attorney  General Salley Yates drove home this sentiment in her announcement speech  of the settlement when she stated that &ldquo;Volkswagen turned nearly  half a million American drivers into unwitting accomplices in an unprecedented  assault on our environment.&rdquo; See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/speech\/deputy-attorney-general-sally-q-yates-delivers-remarks-press-conference-announcing-147\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOJ announcement June 28 2016<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>A majority of the total settlement figure &ndash; $10.03 billion &ndash;  will be paid out to owners of affected vehicles with two-liter diesel  engines. Another $2.7 billion will be used to fund Clean Air Act initiatives  across the country that will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions where Volkswagen&rsquo;s  vehicles were, are or will be operated. According to the Department of  Justice, this &ldquo;marks the largest monetary mitigation obligation  in the history of the Clean Air Act.&rdquo; In addition, $2 billion will  be invested in promoting zero-emission vehicle technology. Lastly, Volkswagen  will pay $603 million to 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto  Rico to resolve consumer protection claims.<\/p>\n<p>Court records show that Volkswagen executives far underestimated the penalty  they would pay. They thought they could deal with the consequences of  their deceptive practices quietly, and believed that if they were to get  caught, they would not pay much more than what Hyundai-Kia paid in 2014  &ndash; $100 million &ndash; for violating emission standards. Moreover,  being long-accustomed to deferential treatment by government leaders in  Germany, where they are one of the largest employers, they seriously underestimated  the wrath of American regulators. As a result, they did not think much  of it when American regulators started asking questions about the diesel  issue, devoting little time to discussing the possible ramifications of  the investigation, and continuing to install the secret software designed  to cheat emissions tests in many of their vehicles. They were in for a  surprise when infuriated American regulators set out to punish Volkswagen  for intentionally and knowingly destroying the environment and defrauding  consumers.<\/p>\n<p> The settlement offers a great deal to the owners of affected Volkswagen  vehicles. Pressured by the government, the automaker hopes to buy back  most of the cars to get the polluting agents off the road. Drivers can  sell their car back to the manufacturer or end their lease without penalty  and receive a cash compensation between $2634 and $9852. Those who choose  to keep their car will be asked to get an emissions repair to bring the  affected vehicles into compliance with environmental regulations and still  receive the same cash payment. Once the settlement is finalized, likely  in the fall, Volkswagen hopes to finalize all buybacks within 90 days.  Those who participate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerreports.org\/volkswagen\/volkswagen-initiates-program-to-compensate-diesel-car-owners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">buyback program<\/a> will be paid the September 18, 2015 market value price for their vehicles  before regulators disclosed Volkswagen&rsquo;s deception. Owners of affected  vehicles who sold their car after this date are still entitled to the  half of the diminished value reimbursement. The other half of the buyback  amount will go to the new owner. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Future Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dieselgate is far from over. Volkswagen may be on the hook for more penalties,  specifically for installing the same cheating software in three-liter  diesel cars. The settlement announced on June 28 concerns only two-liter  diesel cars. The company and its executives may also be held for criminal  liability when the ongoing FBI investigation is complete. The $14.7 billion  fine and additional forthcoming penalties will certainly cripple Volkswagen&rsquo;s  ability to stay competitive. Perhaps this is a fair result for the deception  they practiced for over a decade and for the damage they did to our environment.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Volkswagen Class Action Settlement | George Sink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volkswagen Class Action Settlement | George Sink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"George Sink Injury Lawyers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sinklawfirm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-02T15:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-08T04:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Trudy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SinkLawFirm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SinkLawFirm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Trudy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Volkswagen Class Action Settlement | George Sink","description":"Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Volkswagen Class Action Settlement | George Sink","og_description":"Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/","og_site_name":"George Sink Injury Lawyers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sinklawfirm","article_published_time":"2016-02-02T15:05:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-08T04:00:56+00:00","author":"Trudy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SinkLawFirm","twitter_site":"@SinkLawFirm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Trudy","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/"},"author":{"name":"Trudy","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2cf527896826feb585f13cea3f7750a0"},"headline":"Volkswagen Agrees to Pay $14.7B in Largest Settlement in a Consumer Class Action Claim","datePublished":"2016-02-02T15:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-08T04:00:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/"},"wordCount":745,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/","name":"Volkswagen Class Action Settlement | George Sink","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-02-02T15:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-08T04:00:56+00:00","description":"Last Monday, Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle class-action claims arising from its emissions-cheating scandal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Volkswagen Agrees to Pay $14.7B in Largest Settlement in a Consumer Class Action Claim","item":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/blog\/volkswagen-agrees-to-pay-147b-in-largest-settlement-in-a-consumer-class-action-claim\/"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/","name":"George Sink","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#organization","name":"George Sink Injury Lawyers","url":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/profile-picture.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/profile-picture.jpg","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"George Sink Injury Lawyers"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sinklawfirm","https:\/\/x.com\/SinkLawFirm","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sinklaw\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/george-sink-p-a-injury-lawyers\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/sinklaw\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Sinklaw\/about"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2cf527896826feb585f13cea3f7750a0","name":"Trudy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinklaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}