Oldenburg Higher Regional Court: No statute of limitations in 2020

Damaged drivers are not obliged to actively find out whether their car model is affected by the emissions scandal that has affected millions of cars. The ongoing media coverage of Germany's biggest economic scandal - also known as Dieselgate - does not change this. According to the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court, the media presence of the issue does not constitute a basis for consumers to be obliged to find out whether their vehicle has also been manipulated with an illegal switch-off device.

VW fails with its argument

In this case, VW had accused the plaintiff of ignorance based on gross negligence. This accusation was rejected by the judges of the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court and justified in detail. Volkswagen AG was ordered to take back the plaintiff's 9-year-old Tiguan in return for payment of just under € 13,600 (judgment of June 17, 2021, case number 8 U 212/20).

The plaintiff did not participate in the model declaratory action and only filed her lawsuit against VW with the Osnabrück Regional Court in 2020. This court had already denied the statute of limitations. The Oldenburg Higher Regional Court - as the next higher instance - has now confirmed the Osnabrück judge's ruling.

Anyone who intends to buy a vehicle will inform themselves about the vehicle's characteristics, the court found. However, once the vehicle has been purchased, the issue is resolved and there is no reason for the consumer to question the characteristics of the model. This means that the buyer has no obligation to take the initiative to clarify the matter. As a rule, a buyer does not know the technical name of the engine in his car, which is why it is not clear to the consumer that his car is affected by the emissions scandal.

There is no obligation for the consumer to research

Rather, the injured party had to actively research whether they were affected by the emissions scandal. No one had to assume that their vehicle had an illegal switch-off device, the ruling states. Even if, as VW has stated in these proceedings every time, an inquiry was easy and free, in this situation the owner is not obliged to investigate whether their vehicle is affected by the emissions manipulation.

Whether the letter to the owner from February 2016 cited by Volkswagen AG is sufficient to assume that the plaintiff's lack of knowledge was based on gross negligence does not need to be decided here - in the current case, the Senate could not be convinced that a corresponding letter was received in 2016.

Many victims who had not taken any measures to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring and only filed their lawsuit in 2020 can now have hope again. The essence of this ruling: Neither general knowledge nor negligent ignorance of the owner's knowledge of the impact of the emissions scandal on his vehicle can be assumed - it always depends on the individual case!