Should I join the VW Class action - Slater & Gordon - January 2017
MoneySavingExpert Insert:
We've published a news story on the VW Emissions issue you might like to read: Was your car affected by the VW emissions scandal? You could claim £1,000s by joining lawsuit (if it wins)
Back to smipx013's original post...
Hi,
I wanted to open a discussion about the latest move by Slater & Gordon who are asking folk who signed up to the VW Scandal updates.
They have sent me an email saying they are ready to start a class action lawsuit and that I can sign up if I wish.
They are looking to take "around 30%" as a no win no fee of any final settlement amount. They are suggesting the figure could be up to £3000 so that could be in the region of £900 per claimant.
What does everyone think? Too much (30%) or a fair amount??
Here is the complete email from Slater & Gordon on case you are not a recipient:
thanks
Paul
We've published a news story on the VW Emissions issue you might like to read: Was your car affected by the VW emissions scandal? You could claim £1,000s by joining lawsuit (if it wins)
Back to smipx013's original post...
Hi,
I wanted to open a discussion about the latest move by Slater & Gordon who are asking folk who signed up to the VW Scandal updates.
They have sent me an email saying they are ready to start a class action lawsuit and that I can sign up if I wish.
They are looking to take "around 30%" as a no win no fee of any final settlement amount. They are suggesting the figure could be up to £3000 so that could be in the region of £900 per claimant.
What does everyone think? Too much (30%) or a fair amount??
Here is the complete email from Slater & Gordon on case you are not a recipient:
Good Afternoon,
Happy New Year.
Proposed Group Action
We have got good news. We are now in a position to commence legal action against Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Skoda Auto a.s., SEAT S.A. and Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (jointly “VW”).
We’re alleging fraudulent behaviour (deceit) in respect of fitting your vehicles with the defeat device, cheating emissions tests and hoodwinking the UK authorities into allowing non-compliant vehicles to be sold to members of the public. We’re also seeking damages from any adverse effect of the ‘fix’ and in addition punitive damages. Punitive damages are damages intended to hold VW to account rather than just compensate vehicle owners and are only available in certain circumstances.
In order to bring the claim in the most cost effective manner for you all, we’ve teamed up with another law firm, Harcus Sinclair, to sue VW and leading barristers have been instructed who are experts in their field; so we’re confident you’ll have the best possible legal team fighting your case.
Finally we’ve applied to the court to ask that they make a Group Litigation Order so that this case can be managed as a Group Action.
How to become a claimant in the Group Action
Currently you’re not clients of Slater and Gordon or part of the Group Action. In order to become a client, and thereby officially part of the Group Action, you will need to register at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com. This website also contains all the documents you’ll need to read before you can become a client and contains an FAQ section which will answer any questions you have.
You can join the Group Action even if you have sold the car; had the fix carried out; not had the fix carried out; own the car jointly or purchased via VW’s (and Audi / SEAT / Skoda’s) own financing service.
No win No Fee Arrangement
We’ve been very busy agreeing the terms of the funding for this claim and are pleased to confirm that we will run the claim on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. This is in conjunction with a Third Party Litigation Funder which importantly means you will only pay the funder if we win at trial or settle by negotiation. Just as importantly you will not pay the funder anything for our fees or those of our experts and barristers if we lose. We’ve also secured an indemnity from the funder for adverse costs so that you will not need to pay VW’s fees if the Group action loses.
In order to pay for this the funder will look for a deduction of around 30% from your compensation. This is to pay for (a) litigation funders investment; (b) our costs; (c) Harcus Sinclair’s costs; (d) counsels’ costs; (e) expert’s costs; (f) court fees. This means you will keep around 70% of your compensation.
Full details of the fee agreements you will need to review and agree can be found at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Why should you sue VW?
Although we think the compensation per vehicle will be modest, we’re keen to highlight not only the fraud you’ve suffered, but also the damage to the environment your vehicles have unlawfully caused. We’re also determined to hold accountable a multinational corporate giant who has seen fit to lie and cheat its way to greater profitability at your expense.
What are the details of the claim?
The full legal claim which we’re proposing can be found in a document called the Generic Particulars of Claim which can be accessed at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Committee
In order to keep costs low, we’ve set up a committee of five claimants who we’ll communicate with and take instructions from. The committee in turn will communicate with the claimant group as a whole. When you sign up you’ll be required to agree to the Joint Terms of Business of Slater and Gordon and Harcus Sinclair and to the Authority Document which will make the committee your agents to act on your behalf during the litigation. This is so that the claim can be managed as efficiently as possible and to reduce the cost of running the litigation. Full details and an in-depth explanation can be found at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Next Steps
If you want to join the action and become an official part of the litigation, please sign up at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please do not email or call Slater and Gordon directly. Instead, we’ve set up a dedicated website with FAQs to help with your queries at https://www.vwemmissionsaction.com/faqs.
Once you’ve signed up and are a client, we’ll be in touch as to the next steps.
We wish you well for 2017.
Kind regards,
Jacqueline Young
Head of Group Litigation
Slater and Gordon
Happy New Year.
Proposed Group Action
We have got good news. We are now in a position to commence legal action against Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Skoda Auto a.s., SEAT S.A. and Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (jointly “VW”).
We’re alleging fraudulent behaviour (deceit) in respect of fitting your vehicles with the defeat device, cheating emissions tests and hoodwinking the UK authorities into allowing non-compliant vehicles to be sold to members of the public. We’re also seeking damages from any adverse effect of the ‘fix’ and in addition punitive damages. Punitive damages are damages intended to hold VW to account rather than just compensate vehicle owners and are only available in certain circumstances.
In order to bring the claim in the most cost effective manner for you all, we’ve teamed up with another law firm, Harcus Sinclair, to sue VW and leading barristers have been instructed who are experts in their field; so we’re confident you’ll have the best possible legal team fighting your case.
Finally we’ve applied to the court to ask that they make a Group Litigation Order so that this case can be managed as a Group Action.
How to become a claimant in the Group Action
Currently you’re not clients of Slater and Gordon or part of the Group Action. In order to become a client, and thereby officially part of the Group Action, you will need to register at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com. This website also contains all the documents you’ll need to read before you can become a client and contains an FAQ section which will answer any questions you have.
You can join the Group Action even if you have sold the car; had the fix carried out; not had the fix carried out; own the car jointly or purchased via VW’s (and Audi / SEAT / Skoda’s) own financing service.
No win No Fee Arrangement
We’ve been very busy agreeing the terms of the funding for this claim and are pleased to confirm that we will run the claim on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. This is in conjunction with a Third Party Litigation Funder which importantly means you will only pay the funder if we win at trial or settle by negotiation. Just as importantly you will not pay the funder anything for our fees or those of our experts and barristers if we lose. We’ve also secured an indemnity from the funder for adverse costs so that you will not need to pay VW’s fees if the Group action loses.
In order to pay for this the funder will look for a deduction of around 30% from your compensation. This is to pay for (a) litigation funders investment; (b) our costs; (c) Harcus Sinclair’s costs; (d) counsels’ costs; (e) expert’s costs; (f) court fees. This means you will keep around 70% of your compensation.
Full details of the fee agreements you will need to review and agree can be found at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Why should you sue VW?
Although we think the compensation per vehicle will be modest, we’re keen to highlight not only the fraud you’ve suffered, but also the damage to the environment your vehicles have unlawfully caused. We’re also determined to hold accountable a multinational corporate giant who has seen fit to lie and cheat its way to greater profitability at your expense.
What are the details of the claim?
The full legal claim which we’re proposing can be found in a document called the Generic Particulars of Claim which can be accessed at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Committee
In order to keep costs low, we’ve set up a committee of five claimants who we’ll communicate with and take instructions from. The committee in turn will communicate with the claimant group as a whole. When you sign up you’ll be required to agree to the Joint Terms of Business of Slater and Gordon and Harcus Sinclair and to the Authority Document which will make the committee your agents to act on your behalf during the litigation. This is so that the claim can be managed as efficiently as possible and to reduce the cost of running the litigation. Full details and an in-depth explanation can be found at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com.
Next Steps
If you want to join the action and become an official part of the litigation, please sign up at https://www.vwemissionsaction.com as soon as possible.
If you have any questions, please do not email or call Slater and Gordon directly. Instead, we’ve set up a dedicated website with FAQs to help with your queries at https://www.vwemmissionsaction.com/faqs.
Once you’ve signed up and are a client, we’ll be in touch as to the next steps.
We wish you well for 2017.
Kind regards,
Jacqueline Young
Head of Group Litigation
Slater and Gordon
thanks
Paul
0
Comments
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I have just tweeted Martin to see what his take was on this - my gut feeling is that 30% is a lot of compensation to give up and they will be relying on a lot of people signing up as a knee jerk reaction when in reality, if they win and set a precedent it would then be relatively simple for those not involved in the group case to claim individually.
Will be keeping an eye on this with interest - I got my letter saying I could now book in for my service fix to take place over the weekend.0 -
I saw the online BBC news item on this this morning and have signed up. Although I am unsure about this type of claim, I think we should stand together to show that we are not happy (incredibly furious) about the situation and that we expect VW to find a way of apologising to ALL customers, not just those in the US. This is my first diesel car. I had been encouraged to buy diesel as it was 'better environmentally than petrol'. So then to find that it is many times worse as the emissions had been falsified has made me very angry. I walk my kids to school past queuing traffic in the mornings and it worries me what they are breathing in. Big companies should not be allowed to get away with behaviour like this and if the government won't do it, it is up to us the consumer to hold them to account.0
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Presumably all those who sign up for the compo have had the ''fix'' completed on their cars already, i would expect compliance to be part of the judges summing up, should VW be found liable.
Is 30% fee fair, possibly, possibly not, has any customer actually lost money? lost performance and driving pleasure following the fix is a genuine loss so some form of redress for that would be fair, would be hypocritical for anyone who refuses the fix to join in this claim so i hope judgement makes compliance part of any financial deal.
edit, i thought the name rang a bell, this lot are handling probably the bulk of the Savile compensation claims.0 -
30% of £0 is still £0 so you'll not lose anything by signing up.0
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30% is the going rate for a no win no fee class action (according to all the John Grisham novels I've read :cool:)
If you can do it your self cheaper.....0 -
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Subscribed; we are in the same position.
We have not yet been contacted to take our Superb in to have the adjustment carried out.
We were very disappointed to learn that our car is producing higher emissions than we were lead to believe when we bought it. When we discussed part exing it, the dealer (not VW group) didn't want to take it.0 -
hanfrangipane wrote: »I have just tweeted Martin to see what his take was on this - my gut feeling is that 30% is a lot of compensation to give up and they will be relying on a lot of people signing up as a knee jerk reaction when in reality, if they win and set a precedent it would then be relatively simple for those not involved in the group case to claim individually.
Will be keeping an eye on this with interest - I got my letter saying I could now book in for my service fix to take place over the weekend.
We'd really appreciate knowing how your car is after the fix - there have been reports of loss of mid-range torque and haven't had our car done yet.0 -
gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »Presumably all those who sign up for the compo have had the ''fix'' completed on their cars already, i would expect compliance to be part of the judges summing up, should VW be found liable.
Interesting point. But surely those like hanfrangipane (post #2) who haven't had the fix done yet but may want to be party to this action have a duty to mitigate any potential losses and not have the fix applied?0 -
Subscribed; we are in the same position.
We have not yet been contacted to take our Superb in to have the adjustment carried out.
We were very disappointed to learn that our car is producing higher emissions than we were lead to believe when we bought it. When we discussed part exing it, the dealer (not VW group) didn't want to take it.
Did the salesman tell you the NOx emissions values or did you have to ask him?0
This discussion has been closed.
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