CEI Argues Volkswagen Settlement Provides Zero Benefits to Consumers

Today, Competitive Enterprise Institute Attorney Anna St. John argued the shortcomings of the Volkswagen class action settlement, a result of the 2015 emissions scandal, before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. St. John asked a federal judge to consider there was zero marginal benefit achieved for the class by this consumer class action settlement and therefore it shouldn’t be approved. 

“Class counsel in this case continues to call this $10 billion settlement a ‘good deal’ for consumers, but the fact is, the actual value to consumers will be a small fraction of that and will be available to consumers regardless of whether the class action settlement is ever approved,” said St. John. “Adding insult to injury is how inadequately these plaintiffs’ attorneys represented their clients. Class counsel violated their fiduciary duty by misinforming and ultimately duping 475,000 class members into a settlement that will potentially pay their attorneys hundreds of millions of dollars for providing them next to nothing. These dollars should be going to the class, but instead, the lawyers' decision to structure the settlement with self-dealing gimmicks may have cost Volkswagen owners more than a billion dollars.” 

St. John is an attorney at CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness. Read the Center’s objection to the Volkswagen settlement here.

CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness represents class members against unfair class action procedures and settlements. Founded by Ted Frank in 2009, the Center has won millions of dollars for consumers and shareholders and won landmark precedents that safeguard consumers, investors, courts, and the general public.