Volkswagen’s legal team has walked out of an Irish court after the judge ruled that the case, which involves a motorist suing the company following the emissions scandal, will proceed.
Irish news outlet RTE reported that Roscommon-based Eithne Higgins is suing VW because the emissions scandal may impact her car's road tax, after Volkswagen admitted using so-called defeat devices to manipulate emissions during official testing.
Volkswagen’s legal representative, Paul Fogarty, said that the proceedings are “utterly unsatisfactory, unfair and inappropriate”, and walked out, after Judge Devins, the presiding judge, said she would hear Higgins’ case.
It’s reported that Fogarty informed the judge that no company representatives will be attending the hearing following Judge Devins’ decision. Fogarty also called into question the legality of the court’s determining of the case.
The case will continue, although RTE reports that Evan O’Dwyer, representing Higgins, accused Volkswagen of attempting to stall or interrupt the process multiple times.
A Volkswagen UK spokesman was unable to comment on the matter, as was Volkswagen’s official spokesman in Ireland.
Volkswagen has come under criticism for holding its stance on offering no compensation for affected European customers despite US customers being compensated; several parliamentary committees have urged the government to take action, although whether it will or not is yet to be seen.
An Italian consumer group also found the Volkswagen fix being applied to cars ineffective, after an Audi Q5 that had been recalled showed higher NOx emissions post-fix.
Fiat has also been recently accused of using a similar method of manipulating emissions as Volkswagen.
