Berlin - Volkswagen investors filed lawsuits seeking a total of 8.2 billion euros ($9.2 billion) for losses stemming from the company’s emissions-cheating scandal.
About 1 400 lawsuits are currently pending at the Braunschweig Regional Court, the district handling legal matters for the region where Volkswagen is based, the tribunal said Wednesday. Investors are alleging they suffered damages because the company was slow in disclosing the issue. Volkswagen has rejected the allegations.
Investors have lined up to sue in Germany, where VW shares lost more than a third of their value in the first two trading days after the Sept. 18 disclosure of the emissions scandal by US regulators.
Monday was the first business day after the anniversary of the scandal and investors had feared they needed to sue within a year of the company’s admission that it had equipped about 11 million diesel vehicles with software to cheat on pollution tests.
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The amount is slightly less than the 10.7 billion euros that had been expected based on lawyers statements last week, but more suits could still trickle in because of uncertainty about when the deadline expires. The court may need about four weeks to register all the complaints, according to the release.
The US government, which uncovered the cheating, is also among the investors suing and seeking 30 million euros.
Volkswagen, based in Wolfsburg, has repeatedly said that it had informed markets in a timely manner based on the information available.
BLOOMBERG