With billions of dollars at stake in restitution and penalties, U.S. states are moving quickly to try to hold Volks wagen accountable for its emissions-cheating scandal.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have joined a multistate investigation led by attorneys general, which is determining how VW was able to game emissions tests to hide that its “Clean Diesel” cars emitted smog-causing exhaust up to 40 times dirtier than the law allows. California and Texas are conducting their own investigations for now. At least one county, Harris County in Texas, also is going after VW with a lawsuit seeking more than $100 million.
The attorneys general are expected to seek compensation for consumers and redress for environmental harm, building their investigations under state laws that protect consumers from deceptive trade practices and set clean-air standards.
“This is a really important case, and it has big economic and health consequences. It’s nowhere near the scale of tobacco, but you are kind of in that realm,” said Jim Doyle, former Wisconsin governor and attorney general who participated in the multistate probe that ended with a landmark $200 billion, 25-year settlement with tobacco companies in 1998. “This is the kind of case that you elect an AG for, to stand up for the safety and health of the people of the state.”
The case, in some respects, presents a slam dunk: Volkswagen has admitted wrongdoing, affecting roughly a half million cars in the United States.
The multistate group formed unusually quickly, given the company’s admissions, but the investigation could last years.
Washington and five other states have assumed leadership roles in the multistate investigation, which could mean a slightly better deal for their residents in the end. The others are New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon and Tennessee, where VW operates a U.S. manufacturing plant.
Texas became the first state to go to court this month, filing lawsuits alleging VW violated consumer protection laws and clean air standards. The state seeks restitution for owners of 32,000 VW and Audi diesel models and civil penalties.
