VW and Mercedes suffer further blow over rule-breaking emissions devices

Car owners can get 5% to 15% of the car price, minus the monetary advantages, judges ruled.

Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz suffered another blow in the long-running litigation over customers’ right to payouts when their diesel cars were equipped with rule-breaking software to sidestep anti-pollution systems.

In a key ruling, judges at Germany’s highest civil court decided they would allow more drivers to collect compensation and said carmakers can now escape liability only if they can prove there was no way to know the software they used was illegal.

The top judges sent the individual cases back to the trial courts to have them determine if and how much compensation can be sought under these guidelines. 

In cases of negligence, car owners cannot return the vehicle and get the full price back, they ruled. Instead, they can get 5% to 15% of the car price, minus the monetary advantages they had, such as using the car over the period.

The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe was reacting to a March ruling by the EU's top tribunal that said the EU's emission rules also protect individual car owners, not just the public interest, and that national law must allow them adequate redress.

Before that, Germany generally did not grant compensation unless the carmaker acted intentionally, which is usually difficult to prove.

Bloomberg