Volkswagen’s industrial lawsuit from General Motors Corporation

As we continue to act for thousands of people claiming in the “dieselgate” emissions scandal, it’s useful to take a look back at some of the historic indiscretions involving the eleventh biggest company in the world:- Volkswagen!

The German car manufacturing giant was involved in a monumental lawsuit back in the mid 90’s when it was accused of industrial espionage. They of course denied it all, much like their refusal to pay compensation to U.K. emissions scandal victims, but after a four year legal battle they eventually paid a settlement of $100 million to General Motors Corporation, and agreed to buy at least $1 billion worth of car parts from them.

The whole conflict started in 1993 when then GM Corp purchasing and production chief José Ignacio López de Arriortúa was offered a similar position at Volkswagen with a decent salary of $1.6 million (a healthy increase from $400,000). When he moved over, 7 other managers followed him.

Together with VW’s chief executive, Ferdinand Piech, they were accused of stealing thousands of pages of GM Corp trade secrets which resulted in a huge lawsuit for industrial espionage and conspiracy. Volkswagen denied the accusations, saying that all of the information wasn’t a secret, and that they were all his ideas and that he should be free to take them with him.

Three years into the lawsuit, Volkswagen decided to counter-sue for defamation. They alleged that some of the comments that GM made heavily injured Volkswagen’s reputation, and they sought $6 million in damages.

A year after that, Volkswagen ended up paying a $100 million settlement as well as agreeing to buy $1 billion worth of car parts from GM Corp, effectively concluding the battle. Typically, Volkswagen never admitted any guilt and simply said that they “acknowledge the possibility that illegal activity” may have occurred…

Following the settlement, both sides dropped their lawsuits against each other. Lopez was not exempt from criminal charges, but the Spanish courts refused to extradite him to the U.S.

Volkswagen is now currently in the middle of another monumental scandal that we are at the heart of. This time, it surround the use of so-called “defeat devices” that have been subject to civil and criminal lawsuits and major media criticism worldwide. In the U.S. they’re paying out, and in the U.K they’re currently refusing compensation to victims.

Rather like the 1990’s lawsuit, we imagine we will need to keep battling with them  until they eventually concede and pay out; and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were no admissions of guilt to come with it!