A U.S. judicial panel said Tuesday that up to 451 civil lawsuits filed against Volkswagen over use of software to evade emissions limits, including some in Chattanooga, will be heard by a federal judge in California, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said nearly all of the cases will be heard by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, after VW and the Justice Department had urged that the cases be heard in Detroit.
FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2015, file photo, Greenpeace activists stand with "CO2" formed with the VW logo and a banner that reads "the problem" above the Volkswagen factory gate in Wolfsburg, Germany. California air quality regulators on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, demanded a recall of up to 16,000 additional Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche diesels as the Volkswagen emissions scandal widened. (Peter Steffen/dpa via AP, File) The VW transfer order applies to 63 VW lawsuits but may be expanded to up to 451 suits filed against the automaker.
The panel noted that 101 cases were filed in California and that the California Air Resources Board played a key role in uncovering VW's emissions fraud in 482,000 2.0 liter VW cars.
In Chattanooga alone, there are about a half dozen lawsuits filed in connection with the emission scandal.
VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the German automaker had received the order. "We will vigorously defend the company in these cases," she said.
A Volkswagen lawyer earlier told the judicial panel that the company would like the suits to be consolidated in Michigan. Volkswagen's attorneys were among hundreds of lawyers at a hearing in federal court in New Orleans to look at consolidating the suits.
VW lawyer Jeffrey L. Chase asked the panel to choose Michigan, where VW is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's branch there on its investigation into the emissions cheating scandal.
The panel's job was to determine whether lawsuits in different federal districts should be amassed under one court to prevent duplication and inconsistent rulings and to make it easier for lawyers.
At the hearing, lawyers made their pitches for bringing the cases to California, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, New York and New Jersey, among other places.
VW has admitted that 482,000 2-liter diesel vehicles in the U.S. contained software that turned pollution controls on for government tests and off for real-world driving. The government says another 85,000 six-cylinder diesels also had cheating software.