March 15, 2016 at 1:00 a.m.
| Updated March 15, 2016 at 12:01 a.m.
by
Staff and Wire Reports
FILE - This Sept. 22, 2015, file photo, shows the Volkswagen logo on a car during the Car Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Volkswagen deleted documents and obstructed justice after the U.S. Environmental Protection accused the company of cheating on emissions tests, a former employee alleges in a lawsuit. Daniel Donovan says in a whistleblower case that he was wrongfully fired Dec. 6, 2015, after refusing to participate in the deletions and reporting them to a supervisor. The lawsuit says that the evidence deletion continued for three days after the Sept. 18 allegations from the EPA and despite a hold order from the Justice Department. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
Almost 300 institutional investors in Volkswagen have filed a multi-billion euro suit in Europe against the carmaker for what they see as breaches of its capital markets duty in the emissions scandal, the law firm representing them said.
The lawsuit, for damages of $3.61 billion, was filed at a regional court in Braunschweig, Germany, in VW's home state of Lower Saxony on Monday and is being brought by 278 investors from all over the world, including German insurers and U.S. pension fund Calpers, according to Reuters.
Law firm TISAB said the lawsuit was over whether VW neglected its duty to the capital markets regarding the timeframe between June 2008 and Sept. 18, 2015.
A spokesman for VW said the carmaker could not comment because it had not been sent the suit.
