In the dispute over compensation for the diesel scandal engine EA189, carmaker Audi suffered a loss. The BGH judges confirmed the lower court’s decisions.
Diesel plaintiff receives damages from highest German civil court for the first time Audi Because of the VW– EA189 Scandal Motor won. Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe on Thursday confirmed four decisions of the Munich Higher Regional Court, which had largely awarded Audi buyers the money they asked for. (Az. VII ZR 238/20 etc.)
The EA189 engine was developed by Volkswagen, but was also used in various models of VW subsidiary Audi. In the last two cases, BGH lost solid evidence that someone at Audi knew about illegal exhaust technology.
At least one person responsible for Audi knew about it.
On the other hand, the Munich High Regional Court came to the conclusion that it was unthinkable that at least one person responsible for Audi was not aware of it. The BGH judges complained about a number of errors, but saw themselves bound by the High Regional Court’s assessment in the result. The four decisions are now final.
Most of those affected took legal action against VW, not Audi. In this way, it was much easier to enforce claims of damages. According to Audi, there are still a low four-digit number of pending proceedings. However, not all cases can be compared with the case which is now settled.
