Lawyers are moving to consolidate widespread litigation stemming from Volkswagen AG 's emissions-cheating scandal, drawing the German auto maker into a prolonged legal case expected to spur rafts of depositions and demands for billions of dollars in damages. Plaintiffs' lawyers filed more than two dozen lawsuits in courts across the U.S. within days of the Environmental Protection Agency's disclosure that Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests for nearly a half million diesel-powered cars sold since 2008. Volkswagen says as many as 11 million vehicles world-wide employ what authorities call defeat devices, or software that can make cars appear cleaner than they are during regulatory tests and disable emissions controls during normal driving conditions. Now, lawyers across the U.S. are jockeying to move class-action lawsuits, expected to number in the hundreds, before one federal judge for a long-running case. Such consolidated lawsuits are called multidistrict litigation, or MDL, since they are culled from legal actions across different jurisdictions. The plaintiffs' lawyers are accusing Volkswagen of defrauding consumers who are suffering declining vehicle values. They're also seeking recompense for consumers who paid higher prices-in some cases premiums exceeding $6,000-for models advertised as clean diesel cars with impressive horsepower, fuel economy and emissions.
QUESTIONS:
1. Were VW’s actions ethical? Use one or more of the ethical theories in Chapter 2 in your analysis and to justify your conclusion.
2. What is a class-action lawsuit? Why would the parties want a case to be a class action? What are the advantages and disadvantages of class actions?
answer-
1- The VW's actions to cheat on emission and defrauding customers and cause injuries do not look ethical from any point of view.According to my analysis, the responsible persons in this case were- enior executives including the CEO in charge at Volkswagen.Supervisory board members and The Software Engineers who developed cheating device! Picture courtesy. the theories which can be applied to their actions are-
Utilitarian Approach- Take the decision which produces the greatest good for the greatest number . This deceives the customers and other stakeholders of the actual level of emissions and does bad to majority of the stakeholders such as customers, authorities, shareholders and environment. So this is Unethical (Utilitarian Approach) .
Individualism Approach-Actions are ethical when they promote the individual’s best interest . This decision is not ethical because it doesn’t support the stakeholders’(customers, society, government etc) best interest (Individualism Approach) .
Rights Approach- Ethical decisions are those that best maintain the fundamental rights of the people affected by them . Customers have a right to be fully aware of the standards+quality of what they buy. So this decision is unethical (Moral Rights Approach)
so, there are more than one ethical theories which make the VW actions unethical.
2- A class action lawsuit is one in which a group of people with the same or similar injuries caused by the same product or action sue the defendant as a group. Under this case, many customers from different jurisdictions or state were injured with VW actions so they share common injuries also the defadnant is the same for the group this is why parties want a case to be a class action .
the advantages of this class action suit is that Litigation costs will be divided among class members. Thus, the very number of class members in the plaintiff group can provide a shared expense benefit to each individual class member. The lower litigation costs will allow plaintiffs to seek relief who would not have found it financially prudent to do so in a traditional lawsuit. A class action lawsuit is decided by one judge in one court. Thus, the litigation will take up less cumulative court time and involve fewer judges. The one decision or one settlement benefit also creates greater certainty for defendants. A defendant and others in situations similar to the defendant’s situation are not left wondering about how to follow the law because only one decision was issued. If a defendant is facing multiple lawsuits then the defendant may not have the ability to pay all of the plaintiffs. That means that earlier filing plaintiffs generally receive greater compensation for similar injuries than do later filing plaintiffs. A class action lawsuit erases this risk and allows injured parties to recover damages at the same time and in proportion to their injuries.
the disadvantages of this would be Class action lawsuits are, by definition, representative rather than group litigation. That means that representatives of the affected class make the important litigation decisions – including when to settle. A plaintiff who is not a representative does not have a say in whether to settle or continue to litigation. If the class is unsuccessful in their lawsuit then individual class members likely do not have the right to bring individual lawsuits at a later date. If a plaintiff is seeking other types of compensation than this can be problematic .
*hope above answers would help you.
Lawyers are moving to consolidate widespread litigation stemming from Volkswagen AG 's emissions-cheating scandal, drawing the German auto maker into a prolonged legal case expected to spur rafts...