The Supreme Court (OGH) in Vienna announced a few weeks ago that the question of the Volkswagen Group’s liability in the emissions scandal will only be answered after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled on the subject. This ECJ ruling has now been announced and could hardly have been more consumer-friendly. Therefore, the OGH judges have no choice but to order VW and other manufacturers to pay damages to the affected vehicle owners in the matter.
Specifically, the ECJ judges decided that the EU regulation, which regulates the standards for the pollutant emissions of passenger car models, also protects the individual interests of the buyers of such vehicles. This means that the owners of automobiles whose emission control has been illegally manipulated are entitled to compensation.
Particularly explosive: According to the ECJ, it does not matter whether the damage was caused by negligence or willful misconduct. As a result, in principle, it only has to be proven that the vehicle in question was manipulated in order to receive compensation. This is quite easy to do with the help of a recall notice or an expert opinion.
With this decision, the judges at the Supreme Court are now free to order Volkswagen to pay compensation for the emissions scandal for the first time. The ECJ ruling can also be applied to claims for damages against other car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Fiat or Opel. In Austria alone, hundreds of thousands of consumers who have bought an illegally manipulated vehicle can benefit from the decision.
The Supreme Court now only has to decide how high the compensation for the affected vehicle owners will be. The ECJ left the answer to this question to the national courts. In any case, it can be assumed that the amount of the individual compensation usually exceeds the current used car market value of the respective vehicle.
It is still unclear when the OGH will announce its landmark judgment. Anyone who has not yet had existing legal claims enforced by a law firm should not necessarily wait for the verdict from Vienna. Due to the clear case law in the matter, it is very likely that there will be a veritable wave of lawsuits and thus sometimes long waiting times at the responsible courts. So it’s worth complaining quickly. The faster affected car owners find out about their legal options in the matter, the faster they can successfully enforce existing claims.
