Investors in Volkswagen who suffered losses following the emissions scandal have been offered the chance of compensation without the need for litigation.
The Volkswagen Investor Settlement Foundation (VWISF), founded recently, is to petition the Amsterdam Court of Appeals to – among other measures – compensate investors, but also to release the company from further claims.
VWISF aims to work with investors and VW to provide a free and non-litigation route to recover VW-related damages by using the Dutch Collective Settlement Act. Fundamentally, the aim is to open dialogue with the company rather than sue it.
According to a statement by the VWISF, it “seeks to measure the financial losses suffered by Volkswagen investors resulting from the plunge in the prices of Volkswagen securities following the revelation of fraud and to obtain compensation for losses of investors resulting from Volkswagen’s wrongdoing.”
The use of the Dutch Collective Settlement Act is akin to a US class action settlement and seeks to recover losses from Volkswagen securities traded outside of the US. Investors would settle with VW – possibly for a sum less than what they might get through litigation – and VW would be released from future claims.
Some shareholders have already launched litigation. Last year, for example, law firm Quinn, Emmanuel, Urqhart & Sullivan was instructed in a shareholder lawsuit against Volkswagen and is taking on the company on both sides of the Atlantic amid a barrage of similar claims by numerous law firms.
Anatoli van der Krans, a senior advisor to the Foundation and also a lawyer from BLB&G, told Funds Europe, he is confident that investors will join the Foundation as “it’s better to work together with the company [Volkswagen] than to litigate”.
©2016 funds europe
