VW Claim

Arklight

According to this site:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/10/was-your-car-affected-by-the-vw-emissions-scandal--you-ve-less-t/

An advertisement informing consumers about the case which was published by order of the High Court warns that potential claimants should check how any lawsuit they join is funded and insured. If the case were to proceed and the court rule in favour of VW, claimants could technically be liable for VW's legal costs.

Both law firms leading the case say for their clients there is insurance in place which should protect against this:

Slater and Gordon says if the case was lost its third party funder and insurer would pay VW's costs up to the amount insured and so the risk should be "negligible" - you can read more in the Claim Summary document which is available during the registration process.

Leigh Day also says it has arranged insurance to "protect you against the risk of losing and having to pay the defendants' legal costs and our expenses".
However joining the case is not without some risk and so you should carefully weigh up the potential pros and cons before signing up.

It's also worth noting you will have to pay your share of fees if you sign up and then withdraw from the case. It's impossible to put a figure on this, but it is likely to be the cost of the case divided by the number of claimants, and so could run into hundreds of pounds - so again think carefully before you sign up to any such case.

Arklight

I didn't realise this was a thing in the UK. Having read the comments on some of the threads about this I wonder if many of the people who have signed up to this really know what they are getting into.

There appears to be very little real information about the No Win scenario. There's some kind of insurance policy?

VW's costs could potentially be unlimited, as could the ambulance chasing lawyers, if VW win the case and it's just you and 200 other people in the class action what then? Looks like the ambulance chasers get paid regardless.

Mercdriver

Arklight wrote: »

There appears to be very little real information about the No Win scenario. There's some kind of insurance policy?

VW's costs could potentially be unlimited, as could the ambulance chasing lawyers, if VW win the case and it's just you and 200 other people in the class action what then? Looks like the ambulance chasers get paid regardless.

That's the case with all solicitors.

Many No Win no Fee accident injury solicitors use insurance policies to protect against costs going against their client.

sheramber

As I understand it

A 'third party' is covering the costs of losing up to a certain amount. So , if the class action loses the third party has to pay that amount.

If the class action loses and the costs are more than is covered then the excess will be divided among the claimants who will each have to stump up their share.

If the class action wins then the solicitors take 30% of the payout as payment and the third party doesn't lose their money.

Arklight

This just sounds like a get rich quick scheme for exhaust hugging amber gamblers where only the lawyers get paid.

sheramber

Heads we win, tails you lose