A US judge has ruled Volkswagen does have a case to answer in a California court over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.<br /><br /> The judge refused VW’s request to have an investor lawsuit tossed out. It had argued that German courts were the proper place for a hearing. <br /><br /> The investors – mostly US municipal pension funds – are suing for compensation of hundreds of millions of dollars.<br /><br /> They allege VW and its executives committed securities fraud by misleading them and improperly inflating the price of its shares by cheating on the emissions tests. <br /><br /> The shares slumped in value when that became public, falling 25 percent with VW’s market capitalisation down by $63 billion.<br /><br /> The plaintiffs had invested in VW through American Depositary Receipts (ADR), a form of equity ownership in a non-US company that represents the foreign shares of the company held on deposit by a bank in the company’s home country.<br /><br /> US District Judge Charles Breyer said in his ruling that “because the United States has an interest in protecting domestic investors against securities fraud” the lawsuits should go forward in a US court.<br /><br /> The judge also ruled that VW’s former Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn and VW brand head Herbert Diess must also defend the lawsuits brought personally against them.<br /><br /> Costly scandal<br /><br /> VW in September 2015 admitted using sophisticated secret software in its cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests, with 11 millions vehicles worldwide affected. <br /><br /> The cheating allowed nearly 580,0000 of VW’s US diesel vehicles sold since 2009 to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution levels.<br /><br /> Volkswagen has agreed to spend as much as $17.5 billion in the United States to resolve claims from owners and federal and state regulators over polluting diesel vehicles.<br /><br /> Volkswagen must face legal charges in the US after losing a court battle to get the case re-located to Germany: https://t.co/KKZzajIuO9— Peter Campbell (@Petercampbell1) January 5, 2017<br />
