Bavaria takes VW to court
The German state of Bavaria will sue Volkswagen for damages following the emissions scandal.
It becomes the first regional government in VW’s home country to take legal action, but it continues a recent trend after US states Maryland, New York and Massachusetts announced a fortnight ago they would take VW to court. South Korea is also taking legal action while lawyers are understood to be considering a case for more than 300 Scottish drivers.
Bavaria claims its state pension fund for civil servants lost as much as €700,000 when VW shares plunged following the scandal last September. It says it owned around 58,000 VW preference shares at the time.
Bavarian finance minister Markus Soeder told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, ‘We want this money back.’ She added that Bavaria’s pension fund would file its suit against VW in September at the regional court of Braunschweig, although it remains unclear whether Bavaria will seek damages for losses incurred because of the fall in VW’s share price or whether the state will claim that a violation of disclosure rules on behalf of VW caused the financial damage.
