The Volkswagen Emissions High Court Group Action

Your Lawyers Limited (t/a the Car Emissions Lawyers) are a specialist consumer action law firm who pioneered the first High Court action against Volkswagen in England and Wales after news broke about the “Dieselgate” emissions scandal.

Your Lawyers were the first law firm in England to act for clients against Volkswagen on a No Win, No Fee basis, and the first law firm to launch cases against Volkswagen in the High Court of Justice.

Now, we have the support of other Claimant Firms to be appointed a Lead Solicitor in the action.

Our team have been fighting for justice from the breaking of the VW Emissions Scandal. Consumers who have yet to start their claim should join our group now and start your case as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

A GLO is an order of the court which permits a number of claims with common or related issues (of fact or law) to be managed collectively, and the hearing that is set to be the springboard of the Volkswagen Emissions Group Litigation Order will be in March 2018.

A cut-off date will be imposed to join the action!

The Your Lawyers VW Group Action - The first to take action in England and Wales!

When news broke about the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, a number of law firms in England registered owners’ information but did not take cases forward. Unlike other firms, Your Lawyers formally accepted cases in October 2015 and pioneered the first High Court action against Volkswagen in England and Wales in January 2016.

Tens of thousands of owners have approached us, and we now act for thousands and thousands of individuals affected by the Volkswagen Emissions scandal. We are set to be appointed as a Lead Solicitor in the action by the High Court of Justice with the support of other Claimant Firms, meaning we will be at the centre of the action leading the fight for justice.

For those who are eligible, we are making claims to recover damages for up to 100% of the value of vehicles.

Warning about instructing the right Solicitor!

Claimants are urged to be careful over who they instruct to act for them. At least one law firm (Harcus Sinclair) were debarred from acting in the VW Emissions Litigation and some other firms of solicitors are not making use of vital legislation that could see owners receive up to 100% of the value of their vehicle in compensation.

Around 12 months after we initiated High Court action, another law firm, Harcus Sinclair, tried to launch their own action and tried to act as Lead Solicitor without the agreement of other law firms (including us). Importantly, they were also not allowed to act for their own clients because they had an agreement to not act for their own Claimants having agreed to work with the Your Lawyers Claimant Group.

Harcus Sinclair broke this special agreement, and were stopped from being involved in the VW Emissions Action by the High Court because of their conduct.

Their attempt to become Lead Solicitor was not granted because they failed to have the support of other claimant groups. The High Court went on to debar Harcus Sinclair from acting in the VW Emission Litigation until 2022 having found them in breach of a Solicitor’s Undertaking (the special agreement).

The High Court accepts that Harcus Sinclair’s conduct has delayed the VW Emissions Litigation, and we are therefore advising people who wish to claim in the action to think very carefully about who they instruct.

We also urge people to check which Barristers other firms have instructed. We have retained the services of a top-ranked Queen's Counsel and a Junior Barrister who has worked with us on the case since October 2015. Some other firms have not engaged Barristers as expert and experienced as ours.

Further, having represented victims in previous Group Action cases where other law firms have failed to adhere to Court deadlines, we have seen claims being disallowed from joining proceedings. This can happen with other firms who lack the experience in representing victims of ground-breaking litigation like this.

We urge you, therefore, to instruct us as we will likely be appointed a Lead Solicitor in this action (as we have the support of the other Claimant Law Firms) and we will zealously litigate against Volkswagen for as long as it takes to achieve justice.

Your Lawyers' successes so far

We have attended a number of High Court hearings in relation to the VW Emissions Scandal and worked tirelessly to progress our action. Here’s the history so far:

WARNING: with the GLO pending, we are urging anyone who has yet to sign up to the action to do so now to avoid missing key court deadlines that could mean you will miss the deadline for joining the group for compensation!

Compensation Timescales

Unfortunately, the conduct of debarred law firm Harcus Sinclair delayed the GLO action for almost a year.

In addition, because Volkswagen are refusing to compensate Claimants in the U.K., we are having to pursue them through the High Court of Justice. If Volkswagen had done the honourable thing and owned up to their wrongdoing, we would have seen a quick and efficient conclusion to the case. Instead, they have instructed a leading law firm to defend them in the action, and we expect that it could take some time for cases to be resolved.

Having represented victims in a number of other GLO actions, we know from experience it can take a number of years so win the case.

We remain confident we can succeed.

The Your Lawyers Approach

From the very beginning when the news broke about Volkswagen’s deception, we emphasised the importance of working with other lawyers in the U.K. and across the world in a unified approach. VW is one of the biggest corporations in the world, and it takes the combined expertise of law firms to fight them through the courts.

Whilst it is unfortunate that one law firm (Harcus Sinclair) had to be debarred by the High Court through failing to properly cooperate, we have established ourselves, as the first law firm in England to launch High Court proceedings, in a strong position with partners around the world. We are also working with the Global Justice Network as part of a unified approach.

We have engaged with other Claimant groups in the U.K. and we have their support to be named as one of the Lead Solicitors in the action. As a specialist consumer action law firm, being at the heart of this litigation and paving the way for justice is our absolute priority as we fight for the rights of those who have been wronged by Volkswagen. We have led the fight from the very start, and we will continue to do so until the end.

Sign up to the Action NOW - Court Deadlines Approaching

Anyone who wants to pursue a claim should sign up immediately. Some court deadlines have already passed, but the major one where a cut-off for people joining the action may be imposed could be confirmed as soon as March 2018.

If you miss the deadline, you risk being unable to claim in the action.

Judges can be strict about Claimants who miss deadlines. When we worked in the PIP Breast Implant action, another law firm missed the deadline and their clients were not allowed to join late.

Even this year we still receive enquiries from victims who missed the deadline in 2013, and we are unable to help them. With some PIP Breast Implant claims settling for almost £30,000.00, missing a group action court deadline could be very costly indeed.