LONDON (March 23, 2016) — Volkswagen A.G. has been hit with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by a number of institutional investors over claims it failed to properly inform the stock market about last year's emission scandal.
The lawsuit — brought by nearly 300 investors from around the world — is seeking damages of about $3.72 billion and was filed March 21 in Braunschweig, Germany, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Documents filed with the court argued that VW failed to properly inform the market between June 2008 and September 2015.
Last year's emissions scandal rocked the auto maker, the world's largest. It sent the company's share price plummeting, leaving it facing billions of dollars in fines and leading to several senior corporate casualties, including Martin Winterkorn, VW's boss, who resigned in September 2015.
According to the Guardian, VW did not comment, saying it had not seen the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Kentucky has sued Volkswagen and its luxury units claiming the German auto maker's diesel emissions cheating scheme violated the state's Consumer Protection Act.
This report appeared on the website of Automotive News, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.