New Jersey Sues VW Over Emissions
February 08 2016 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 2/8/16)
By Mike Spector
New Jersey's acting attorney general has sued Volkswagen AG over
an emissions-cheating crisis linked to millions of vehicles, adding
to mounting legal woes for the German car maker.
John Hoffman, the state's acting attorney general, on Friday
alleged Volkswagen violated state environmental and consumer fraud
laws when selling more than 17,000 diesel-powered vehicles with
software capable of duping government emissions tests.
The laswuit alleges that Volkswagen "perpetrated a massive fraud
upon consumers" and the company "profited greatly from its
misconduct" in selling the vehicles.
Mr. Hoffman sued Volkswagen and the company's Audi and Porsche
luxury brands in state court, seeking financial penalties.
"Our lawsuit alleges that Volkswagen put profit ahead of
honesty, integrity, fair business practices and -- most disturbing
of all -- the well-being of people living and breathing the air
here in New Jersey and across the country," Mr. Hoffman said in a
news release.
A spokeswoman for Volkswagen said the company's top priority
remains figuring out how to fix affected vehicles in cooperation
with regulators.
Volkswagen vehicle emissions in affected automobiles violated
legal pollution limits, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also alleges
Volkswagen profited from higher prices for diesel-powered vehicles
sold under false promises of being environmentally friendly and
harmed consumers who face declining resale values and potential
performance declines once they have their vehicles fixed.
Mr. Hoffman's civil suit adds to similar legal actions brought
by attorneys general in New Mexico, Texas and West Virginia. In
addition, the U.S. Justice Department in January brought a civil
suit against Volkswagen on behalf of the Environmental Protection
Agency seeking billions of dollars of damages for violating U.S.
clean-air law.
Volkswagen is racing to develop recall plans for nearly 600,000
diesel-powered vehicles across the U.S. that contain illegal defeat
devices allowing automobiles to pollute more on the road than
during laboratory tests.
Volkswagen has halted sales of the affected vehicles in the
U.S.
Regulators earlier this year rejected Volkswagen's plan for
nearly 500,000 affected vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines sold
in the U.S. since 2008 as inadequate.
Regulators are currently reviewing a plan from Volkswagen for
some 80,000 vehicles with 3-liter diesel engines. The problematic
software is on nearly 11 million vehicles globally and Volkswagen
started recalling vehicles in Europe in January.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 08, 2016 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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