Currently reading: VW emissions scandal: Volkswagen legal team walks out of Irish court
Volkswagen’s lawyers have walked out of court in Ireland; the case involves a motorist from Roscommon suing the company regarding the emissions scandal

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. 

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bezor Ta 7 September 2016

Seriously?

The proceedings are “utterly unsatisfactory, unfair and inappropriate”.

Are they high? Those exact words describes exactly what VW has done to it's customers, and the rest of us, breathing in the s**t their cars spew out.

Balders2407 6 October 2016

bezor Ta wrote:

bezor Ta wrote:

The proceedings are “utterly unsatisfactory, unfair and inappropriate”.

Are they high? Those exact words describes exactly what VW has done to it's customers, and the rest of us, breathing in the s**t their cars spew out.

too right, I was in London today and got covered in Black Smoke from a Volvo Bus, so they must be at it as well, I mean when a VW drives past me in London I don,t see any black smoke or smell anything so it must be invisible because when a bus goes past I can clearly see the smog from its exhausts, I mean it is only VW that are killing people isn;t it, all lther manuafacturers are clean as a whistle

oop north 7 September 2016

Eek!

Not sure what they hope to achieve - not providing any evidence would, I expect, mean the court will definitely decide against Volkswagen. Probably a tactical wheeze but high stakes
fadyady 7 September 2016

Don't blame the poor lawyer

Defending the indefensible is not easy no matter how loaded your client. Erstwhile Volkswagen could have got away paying a token compensation to the European owners of its vehicles at fault. Now who knows where will this end? What do they say about one stitch in time?