By Sam Tobin
LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) – Some of the world’s biggest carmakers largely won the first stage of a major legal battle on Friday over claims that their diesel vehicles were fitted with unlawful “defeat devices” that led to higher emissions.
In a summary of her judgment, Judge Sara Cockerill said she had “rejected most of the principal allegations advanced against the manufacturers whose vehicles were examined at trial”.
She said that a defeat device under emissions regulations only covered “devices which operate with the intentional and/or impermissible purpose of causing the (emissions control system) to operate differently when it senses the test cycle”.
The case at London’s High Court centred on 20 sample vehicles made by Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Nissan, Renault and the Stellantis-owned brands Peugeot and Citroen.
Cockerill made some findings against the carmakers, including over a coolant temperature device used in some Mercedes cars that was removed in a December 2015 update and which she said did not reduce the effectiveness of the emissions control system.
The judge also made an adverse finding in relation to a combustion mode used in some Peugeot-Citroen vehicles.
POSSIBLE APPEALS FROM CLAIMANTS, CARMAKERS
A Mercedes-Benz spokesperson welcomed the ruling, saying the court had found “very largely in favour” of the company. The automaker said it disagreed with the finding against it and was considering its options, including a possible appeal.
Stellantis said only one allegation was upheld against it and it was considering the possibility of seeking leave to appeal.
“Stellantis maintains its firm position that all its vehicles comply with applicable emissions regulations,” the manufacturer said in a statement.
Lawyers representing the claimants said they were considering a possible appeal against Friday’s ruling, which they said “adopted a significantly narrower interpretation of the law than that applied elsewhere in Europe”.
Cockerill said in her ruling that it was “close to a certainty that determined attempts will be made to appeal this decision” and, given the scale of the litigation, it seems likely that permission to appeal would be granted.
The trial, which began in October, was the most significant hearing to date in 13 groups of lawsuits brought by around 1.6 million claimants.
Friday’s ruling concerned test cases against five manufacturers but will also apply to roughly 800,000 similar claims involving other carmakers.
A further trial is due to begin in October to determine the consequences of any breaches of emissions rules and whether any claimants are entitled to damages.
Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal, which cost the German automaker billions of euros, became public in 2015 and has led to years of litigation.
Rival manufacturers have said the cases against them are fundamentally different from Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal and that emissions control systems may legitimately operate differently under certain conditions.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin. Editing by William James, Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis)
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