2023-09-09 17:50:49
Thousands of Volkswagen owners in Switzerland affected by dieselgate will not be compensated, unlike German or American owners, RTS has learned. These approximately 2,000 plaintiffs, supported by the Fédération romande des consommateurs (FRC), had filed a collective action in Germany.
They were hoping for between 1,600 and 5,000 euros in compensation, but ultimately found themselves with nothing. The collective action they had brought against the German car manufacturer has just been abandoned, revealed Saturday 7:30 p.m.
“It is a scandal that faced with those responsible who are criminally convicted, the Swiss find themselves almost the only ones not to be compensated in the VW affair,” regrets Sophie Michaud Gigon, general secretary of the Fédération romande des consommateurs, in 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
>> To know everything about the dieselgate trial: The extraordinary Dieselgate trial opens in Germany
“No chance”
The Swiss plaintiffs had entrusted their complaint to the German organization MyRight, a consumer defense platform created in Hamburg just after the start of the scandal in 2015. The news is initially intended to be reassuring, with German justice recognizing the right to MyRight to defend injured customers.
But in 2023, the sky has darkened for VW owners in Switzerland. A German-speaking owner, who had attacked the German brand on his side, was dismissed by the courts. For MyRight, which is drowning in procedural costs, the fight for Swiss customers is no longer worth it.
“MyRight saw this as an additional obstacle and rather as a sign that in fact there would be no chance of bringing the Swiss cases to fruition. In addition, the organization would have to pay a lot of procedural costs and a lot of advances costs so it was no longer tenable”, argues Sophie Michaud Gigon.
>> On the same subject, read: “Dieselgate”, VW’s Swiss customers not about to be compensated
Collective action to come?
No less than 117,000 vehicles registered in Switzerland are still affected by the scandal today. These are all owners who will probably not receive a cent in compensation.
For the FRC, the situation is no longer tenable. “Swiss consumers see nothing, while around the world 30 billion have already been spent in legal costs and compensation by the VW group. This shows that there is no alternative and that we need of collective action,” says the FRC representative.
“There is a project from the Federal Council. Everything is ready and now we must also be able to equip ourselves with such an instrument like other countries,” she confides.
An instrument from which the plaintiffs will in no case be able to benefit. The only solution available to them: file a complaint individually.
Subject tv: Julien von Roten
Adaptation web: juma
Topic covered at 7:30 p.m. Saturday
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