Green light for group action suit against VW

A vast group action case pitting more than 50 000 UK car owners against Volkswagen will likely go to trial early next year following a complex three-day hearing last week. According to a Law Gazette report, last week consumer rights firms Leigh Day and Slater and Gordon, alongside Chesterfield-based Your Lawyers, were at the High Court where they successfully applied for a group litigation order allowing affected car owners to have their claims managed together rather than every car owner having to sue VW individually. Slater and Gordon and Leigh Day will be appointed as ‘lead lawyers’ in the claim, which is set to be one of the largest group action cases in history. VW intends to contest the claims and denies that UK customers have suffered any loss or financial detriment. Potential claimants, who say they were adversely affected by the motor giant’s alleged fitting of software to manipulate the results of emissions tests, have until October to decide whether to join the challenge. The claim is financed by litigation funders Therium Capital Management and Ferguson Litigation Funding. The first pre-trial hearing is expected in early 2019. The group litigation order is subject to the approval of the Queens Bench Division.