After a six-year long investigation Volkswagen AG is seeking a claim for legal damages against its former chief executive officer Martin Winterkorn and former Audi chief executive Rupert Stadtler for breaching their duty of care as management board members during the Dieselgate crisis.
The Volkswagen AG supervisory board says it has drawn a line under the investigation which began in October 2016. No breaches of duty by other members of the groups management board were identified.
Legal firm Gleiss Lutz carried out an extensive review of liability claims and the board’s resolution is based on its expert opinion, which concluded that negligent breaches of duty had occurred. The investigation was by far the most comprehensive and complex yet carried out in a company in German economic history.
The board has concluded that Winterkorn breached his duties of care as a former VW board chair by failing, in the period from 27 July 2015 on, to clarify the circumstances behind the use of unlawful software functions in 2.0l TDI diesel engines sold in the North American market between 2009 and 2015. He also failed to ensure that the questions asked by the US authorities in this context were answered truthfully, completely and without delay.
The board also concluded that Rupert Stadler breached his duties of care by failing, in the period from 21 September 2016 on, to ensure that 3.0l and 4.2l V-TDI diesel engines developed by AUDI and installed in EU vehicles of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche were investigated with regard to unlawful software functions.
Former Audi board members Ulrich Hackenberg and Stefan Knirsch, as well as Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz, are also being accused of breaches of their duty of care. They will now have claims for damages asserted against them. Furthermore, claims have already been lodged against the former member of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars management board member Heinz-Jakob Neußer.
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