BP Oil Spill Lawyers Set to Back Volkswagen in Emissions Scandal

In the wake of the ‘defeat device’ probe scandal one of the world’s most iconic car manufacturers has been sent spiraling into a plethora of class action suits. Now, Volkswagen has enlisted the expertise of BP’s high flying oil spill lawyers to defend accusations that 11 million of its cars were intentionally designed to cheat emissions testing.

The scandal has made global headlines and Volkswagen is not under any illusions that’s it’s landed itself in seriously hot water. The solution? Hire the high profile US law firm that defended BP after the Deepwater Horizon disaster that rocked the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010.

Kirkland & Ellis will be representing Volkswagen, a contract that’s come just days after the German government admitted that it was already aware of the existence of ‘defeat devices’ capable of cheating emissions tests. This latest information was uncovered using written responses from the transport ministry to the Green party which reference the technology. That said, the transport ministry is claiming that it had “no knowledge” of the devices actually being used, let alone by VW. Alexander Dobrindt, German transport minister has publically canned the claims as “false and inappropriate.”

VW gets the third degree

Oliver Krischer, deputy leader of the Green party is adamant that the government is not stepping up to take partial responsibility, saying “The government worked together with the auto industry, not to ensure that the emissions levels were reduced, but so that the measuring system was set up in such a way that on paper the cars met the necessary standards.”

Since accusations first emerged VW has been forced to admit that 11 million of its cars were designed to dupe emissions testing. Already it’s allocated £4.7 billion to dealing with the legal consequences of the crisis, however an additional £12 billion could be on the cards regarding a US criminal investigation, fines for its executives and legal action from customers and shareholders.

Across the globe the repurcussions have been fierce, with German public prosecutors on the verge of launching a criminal investigation and French energy minister Segolene Royal asserting that Paris will be “extremely thorough, extremely severe” with VW.

Interested in knowing more about the ins and outs of emissions testing? ‘Abating Fugitive VOC Emissions More Efficiently’ summarises the Concawe study that compares the two best available techniques for detection of refinery fugitive VOC emissions: Sniffing and Optical Gas Imaging (OGI).  OGI comes out on top, as explained in the article.