Robert A. Clifford spoke to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the possibility of the numerous class actions filed around the country and said, “‘No doubt about it, there will be an MDL here.'” An MDL is a multi-district litigation action whereby the federal courts consolidate all similar actions before a single judge to hear the matter.
Clifford went on to say, “‘This case will allow the full creative juices of the plaintiffs’ bar to be on full display.'” (“VW Faces Barrage of Litigation,” by Mike Spector, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 29, 2015).
Clifford filed a class action in federal district court in Chicago a week ago (Sept. 21, 2015) on behalf of two representative plaintiffs who own Jettas that are affected by the massive diesel engine scam perpetrated by the world’s largest automaker.
Another story by The Wall Street Journal explained “How Car Software Can Rig a Test,” (by Robert Wall, Sept. 23, 2015). That story graphically explained how the Volkswagen engineers managed to load software it created on a half million Volkswagen-made cars in the U.S. in order to pass emissions tests and as many as 11 million vehicles around the world.
The software disguises the fact that the vehicle emits up to 40 times the allowable limits of pollutants as regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Volkswagen’s CEO stepped down. Its officials still haven’t announced how it will correct this problem for car owners.