Homburger successfully represented Swiss importer of Volkswagen cars in Dieselgate civil damages case

On December 29, 2017, Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz (SKS), a Swiss foundation for consumer protection, filed a civil damages action against Volkswagen AG and AMAG Import AG (AMAG), the independent Swiss importer for cars of the Volkswagen group, in the context of an emissions-rigging scandal. SKS had arranged for the assignment to itself of purported damages claims of approximately 6,000 car owners in order to pursue them by way of a «class action». The Commercial Court of the Canton of Zurich held that SKS was essentially acting as a debt collection vehicle for the individual car owners, and that the foundation’s purpose did not allow for the filing of lawsuits to pursue non-contractual claims for damages. The Court dismissed the damages claim without prejudice, holding that because the claim was not within the purpose of the foundation, the plaintiff lacked capacity to sue the defendants for compensation for damages. On July 16, 2020, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal against the decision of the Commercial Court. As a consequence of this judgement and the statute of limitations, no more civil damages actions can be brought in this matter in Switzerland.

Homburger represented AMAG in this litigation. The Homburger team was led by partner Marcel Dietrich (Competition, Regulatory) and senior counsel Georg Naegeli (Litigation).