Federal court ruled on the litigation capability
The Foundation for Consumer Protection stood up until August 2020 for around 6,000 motorists who had been cheated by the VW cheat engines. The foundation wanted to achieve compensation that should go to those affected by the manipulation of the exhaust gas values. But now the Federal Supreme Court has denied the foundation's ability to take legal action, thus putting an end to the long-standing debates and demands. The verdict now clearly shows how little protected consumers in Switzerland really are. There does not seem to be any legal protection even for such obviously illegal things. This is how consumer protection expressed itself in its press release after the court ruling.
While in other countries VW was condemned for its approach and had to pay compensation there, the Swiss are said to be denied this. VW already had to pay billions for cheating! The Foundation for Consumer Protection is now concerned with ensuring that the class action procedure is firmly anchored in the Swiss legal system.
Incomprehensible judgment?
The managing director of the Foundation for Consumer Protection stated that it was incomprehensible why the judgment of the Federal Supreme Court was issued in this form. However, the judgment is now clear and was probably declared a failure because of formal questions. The VW emissions scandal must now be settled in Switzerland for procedural reasons. The courts were unable to examine VW and AMAG's obligation to pay compensation.
Around 170,000 car owners are affected by the cheating in Switzerland alone, but only 6,000 of them joined the class action lawsuit. The fact that the Foundation for Consumer Protection, which is supposed to help in precisely such cases, has now been unable to do anything or achieve anything, according to its managing director, only shows that collective legal protection absolutely needs to be strengthened again.
Consumers in Switzerland are currently exposed to the machinations of the companies without any further protection and have to rely on their own financial resources if they want to defend themselves. But not everyone can do that, especially since every process involves a certain financial risk. Anyone who cannot or does not want to accept this is left with their damage.
Collective legal protection has now simply been removed from the code of civil procedure, which just underlines the need for the Foundation for Consumer Protection, the legal remedy? Class action? to finally strengthen it further or to establish it at all. Nowadays, the class action is seen as almost indispensable and yet it is not anchored in the Swiss legal system.
This should be fixed in the future. The ways in which the class action will now become legally legitimate and what the foundation would like to do about it has not yet been clarified. The fact is, however, that VW got away with it and was able to enjoy the backing of the legal system in Switzerland with its cheating.
Conclusion: No more wave of lawsuits about VW
VW apparently got off well with its exhaust cheating in Switzerland, because the legal remedy of the class action is not anchored here. This means that such a lawsuit has no justification, which was shown by the rejection of the class action filed on behalf of 6,000 victims. The Federal Supreme Court denied that the Foundation for Consumer Protection was able to take legal action. This now wants to fight to ensure that the class action is firmly anchored in the legal system of Switzerland.
