Slovenian car buyers are also suing Volkswagen: they want their money back

9. april 2018 ob 21.21 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO

If the suit fails, Slovenian consumers will not face any expenses, but if it succeeds, Financialright will retain a portion of the damages, but no more than 35 percent of the awarded and recovered amount. Foto: EPA

The Slovenian Consumer Association (ZPS) has filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen on behalf of 6024 Audi, Seat, Škoda, and Volkswagen owners. The organization wants the German carmaker to refund the purchase price of automobiles with excessive nitrogen emissions.

Slovenia has joined several other European countries that have already filed lawsuits against Volkswagen in the wake of the so-called “Diesel scandal.” Between 2007 and 2015, Volkswagen built in devices that falsified emission tests into all its Diesel vehicles – a practice that was uncovered in the U.S. The head of ZPS, Breda Kutin, says that Volkswagen quickly paid damages to American owners of the controversial vehicles. Until now, the company has paid more than 20 million euros in damages and fines.

However, the German carmaker is refusing to pay any damages to European victims of the fraud. Therefore, consumer associations in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have already filed class-action lawsuits, which are allowed according to their legislation.
ZPS has joined forces with the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) to find a way that would allow it to seek damages in court. “We didn’t want to sue the Slovenian retailer, because the mistake wasn’t made during the sale, but rather during production,” says Kutin. ZPS instead decided to follow several other consumer associations and work with the German-based company Financialright, which is financing a lawsuit in the Braunschweig circuit court. The court has jurisdiction over Volkswagen because of the location of the corporation’s headquarters. However, Slovenian substantive law will be applied in the judicial proceedings.

If the lawsuit goes ahead, Financialright will cover all legal expenses. If the suit fails, Slovenian consumers will not face any expenses, but if it succeeds, Financialright will retain a portion of the damages, but no more than 35 percent of the awarded and recovered amount.
German backers of the lawsuit have already filed two similar lawsuits, one on behalf of 15,374 German claimants and one on behalf of 2000 Swiss claimants. And what do they expect in this case?

“What do we want? We’d like the purchase price to be refunded to every Slovenian car buyer,” says Christopher Rother from the Berlin-based Hausfeld law office, which is representing Financialright in court.