Good news for consumers who have suffered damage in the VW emissions scandal involving vehicles with the EA 189 diesel engine: You can continue to assert claims for damages. As the first court, the Karlsruhe Regional Court ruled on December 4, 2020 that there is a claim to compensation for the remaining damage according to Section 852 of the German Civil Code (Az .: 4 O 195/20). “This claim only expires ten years after it came into being. So in 2025 at the earliest, ”explains lawyer Dr. Ingo Gasser from Kiel.
The plaintiff before the LG Karlsruhe had bought a VW Tiguan with the EA 189 diesel engine in 2012. When the diesel scandal was exposed in 2015, a recall and software update followed. The plaintiff only made claims for damages at the beginning of 2020.
The BGH had already determined in May 2020 that VW is in principle obliged to pay damages in the emissions scandal due to willful immoral damage. The LG Karlsruhe saw it that way too. However, the claims for damages due to intentional immoral damage according to § 826 BGB due to the knowledge of the plaintiff of his claim had already expired by the end of 2019 at the latest, determined the LG Karlsruhe.
However, that does not mean that the plaintiff has received nothing. Because according to § 852 BGB he is still entitled to compensation for residual damages. This regulation means that anyone who has obtained something through an unlawful act at the expense of an injured party is obliged to surrender the unjust enrichment even after the limitation period for the claim for damages. “Applied to the emissions scandal, this means that VW has to return the profit made by selling a defective vehicle,” explains lawyer Dr. Gasser. This claim only becomes statute-barred ten years after its creation.
The judgment of the LG Karlsruhe is the first on damages in the exhaust gas scandal according to § 852 BGB. However, it does not come as a complete surprise. Various courts had already made it clear that they consider a claim under Section 852 BGB to be possible. This also included the LG Kiel (Ref .: 17 O 124/209). Again, the lawsuit was only filed in 2020. “It is particularly noteworthy here that VW even dropped the objection of the statute of limitations after the district court in Kiel had made it clear that the plaintiff was probably entitled to compensation for residual damages under Section 852 of the German Civil Code,” said lawyer Dr. Gasser.
The BGH will deal with the statute of limitations in the emissions scandal in a hearing on December 14th. “Even if the BGH should decide that the tortious claims for damages from intentional immoral damage are time-barred, the claims for residual damages according to § 852 BGB can still be asserted”, explains lawyer Dr. Ingo Gasser.
More information: https://www.ingogasser.de/category/volkswagen/
–
