GM accused in lawsuit of rigging diesel trucks to pass emissions tests News
GM accused in lawsuit of rigging diesel trucks to pass emissions tests

A class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF] was filed against General Motors Company (GM) [corporate website] on Thursday that alleges the company rigged hundreds of thousands of diesel trucks with devices to ensure the vehicles pass emissions tests. The complaint, filed by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro law firm [firm website] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website], will cover people who owned or leased more than [Reuters report] 705,000 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pick-up trucks from the 2011 to 2016 model years. The vehicles were fitted with “Duramax” [official website] engines to meet federal and state standards of emissions while driving under controlled conditions conducted during testing. Absent the specific conditions maintained during testing, the vehicles emit four to five times [NYT report] the number of pollutants permitted under the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board [official websites]. The class-action suit is seeking monetary remedies in the form of refunds, restitution for lost resale value and punitive damages for violations of racketeering and consumer protection laws. GM has been facing legal issues [JURIST report] in an unrelated suit over faulty ignition switches that are linked to 124 deaths.

Earlier this week the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil complaint [JURIST report] against Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles NV alleging that the company illegally used computer software to bypass emissions tests in nearly 104,000 of the company’s diesel cars. These suits come on the heels of the Volkswagen (VW) scandal where it was leaked that VW had intentionally circumvented emissions tests through installing technology to determine when emissions testing would take place and alter the cars’ emissions during inspections. It was found that the practice took place for at least six years. Earlier this month, the US District Court of Northern California gave final approval on VW’s settlement. The settlement [Reuters report] requires VW to pay at least $1.22 billion to buy back or fix 80,000 3.0-liter vehicles. Owners of the vehicles will receive between $7,000 and $16,000 from Volkswagen to fix the cars if the emissions remedies are approved. VW pleaded guilty [JURIST report] earlier in March per the agreement. In December the EU decided to take action [JURIST report] against seven member states over the emissions scandal. A US judge approved [JURIST report] a $14.7 billion settlement in October between VW and the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the state of California and car owners who filed a class action lawsuit over the company’s emissions scandal. In September the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued [JURIST report] VW and its local subsidiary for misleading customers.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.