Charleston, S.C., ABC news affiliate WCIV spoke with Motley Rice vehicle defect attorney Kevin Dean on Sept. 30, 2015, regarding the firm’s filing of class action suits against Volkswagen (VW). The suits were filed shortly after VW’s admission that it installed “defect devices” in certain Clean Diesel engines in order to trick official emissions tests. The actual emissions of these vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, can run up to 40 times the allowable level of pollutants.
In the interview, Dean emphasized the impact of owning or leasing one of the vehicles involved in the scandal, stating that, “You’re driving around with a vehicle that’s polluting the environment every day you get into it. So you either drive it with that knowledge or you park it until there is some sort of a fix, hopefully sometime in the near future, or it gets bought back.”
Among other claims, the suits allege consumer fraud and breach of contract, as well as devaluation of the vehicles, which may have lost up to half of their value, according to the complaints.
The news story that ran with the on-air coverage included quotes from Motley Rice attorney Jodi Westbrook Flowers, who was quoted saying, “Having spoken with many angry and concerned VW owners, it is clear that these cars were marketed and sold under blatantly false pretense. Volkswagen has reaped the benefit of ill-gotten financial gain by creating software designed to cheat emission testing. Sold at a higher price point than a regular gasoline car, these cars do not live up to the hype or the premium prices for which they were sold to many environmentally-conscious consumers. At a time when the need to seriously address climate change is upon us, VW's conduct in intentional rigging of emissions testing is beyond reprehensible."
Motley Rice client and Florida resident Megan W. Strayhorn added that, “As a Volkswagen owner, I am very disappointed and concerned that a company broke the promises that we relied upon. We trusted Volkswagen and their commitment, and now find that our trust has been violated. All Volkswagen owners deserve answers to these questions and should be compensated for our losses.”
Affected diesel cars include:
- Audi A3 TDI (2010-15)
- Beetle TDI (2012-15)
- Beetle Convertible TDI (2012-15)
- Golf TDI (2010-15)
- Golf Sportwagen TDI (2015)
- Jetta TDI (2009-15)
- Jetta SportWagen TDI (2009-14)
- Passat TDI (2012-15)
Motley Rice attorneys have experience in vehicle defect cases and have held leadership roles in similar litigation, including Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice’s leadership role on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for General Motors’ ignition switch litigation and Motley Rice’s rent role in the Takata’s exploding airbags litigation.
Read more about lawsuits regarding the VW emissions scandal.