West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won a $2.65 million “huge victory” against Volkswagen Tuesday over an emissions-cheating scandal that state university scientists uncovered three years ago.
“Trust is a crucial element to the consumer-business relationship,” Morrisey said. “This should send a strong message that our office will vigorously pursue anyone whose actions erode that relationship.”
Morrisey, a Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate, chose not to join a multistate lawsuit against the German automaker for violating the Clean Air Act.
“The attorney general unilaterally sued Volkswagen in October 2015, handled the litigation within his office and chose not to participate in a multi-state settlement, all moves that saved the state more than a half million dollars in legal fees and likely helped it receive more than it would have as part of the broader settlement,” according to his office.
That means no portion of the $2.65 million settlement will be used to reimburse outside law firms, according to the attorney general.
Volkswagen, and its brands Porsche and Audi, have admitted that so-called clean diesel car models had been equipped with a defeat device designed to cheat federal and state emissions tests.
Morrisey’s lawsuit argued that the automaker’s scheme led to “false advertising as the automakers’ self-described, ‘clean diesel’ engines actually emitted up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide.”
Scientists at West Virginia University conducted the research that ultimately uncovered the defeat devices.
The findings led the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to initiate probes and then sue the automaker over intentionally trying to evade U.S. environmental regulations.
