God it's complicated;
If an employee does something on purpose that the company could not be expected to know about or prevent, then the company may not be liable. That might be even more provable if the act was not only against company procedures it was against the law.
On the other hand if the company enabled, acknowledged, facilitated or even knew of that act then it'll make it even worse if the act is illegal.
However if it was a deliberate illegal act of employee(s) working outside the company direction and the company was not party to it, then even if they are responsible for putting it right, they may not be punished for it going wrong.
Insurance is probably going to depend on there being liability but not a deliberate company act. A criminal act by an individual employee may put it into that category.
In the case of BP there were determined to be failings implicit in company policies. e.g. maintenance.
However I think the lawsuit is about "misleading" information? Big word "misleading", could mean many things.
As I understand it this particular case is to establish the legal position as regards liability and actual loss. And that will be considering exactly this area.
Essentially, did the company act deliberately and dishonestly? AND has actual and material loss/damage been suffered?
Actual claims for compensation are a whole 'nother thing and will be some way down the line I expect. Say 2 - 3 years for this case, 1 - 2 years for the actual claims, uless VW tries some kind of out of court settlement.
I doubt they would, I think the US has only cost them $2bn or so because there really isn't that much in the way of actual loss for most people. I think FB said "450K at say £2000 is a lot of money" Well it isn't. It;s less than a billion.
The other case at the moment is not connected directly to the scandal but to the communication relating to the impact of that scandal on the company's finances and is being brought by investors. - didn't announce quickly enough, didn't explain how bad it could be.
tl:dr -> NAFC, maybe.
They could avoid *company* 'guilt' for the act and pay only compensation for the impact, which would then be a liability potentially covered by insurance.
But if I could answer with any competence they wouldn't need a court case. I'd be cheaper.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 30 Sep 19 at 16:16
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Volkswagen - 450,000 German VW Diesel own.. new
Volkswagen - 450,000 German VW Diesel o.. new