Lawyer Up

Has anyone opted out and filled a personal law suit against VW? Just curious if VW will tie it up in court or just settle and move on.

If you haven't already opted out, you're about 8 months late--the deadline was 9/16/16. I know there are some here who have opted out, and at least one has mentioned that he'd retained an attorney who was in negotiations with VW.

It's unlikely that you'll get any information about settlement amounts from people who have opted out and sued Volkswagen on their own. I suspect that any settlements will be bound to secrecy by a non-disclosure agreement.

DanB36 said:

If you haven't already opted out, you're about 8 months late--the deadline was 9/16/16.........

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Anyone who did not opt out in time, but wants to try to "Lawyer up" at this point would simply have to transfer the title to a trusted friend, and then transfer it back into their name.

I think you have 30-90 days from the purchase date to opt out.
(thereby reserving your right to sue VW on your own. - I'm going off memory here)

However, a newly purchased car this late would make a weak claim against VW in court.

You'd have a heard time proving VW advertised falsely, since the news has been out for a good 1.5 years.

Lawyer

I suppose that's true about the non-disclosure claus but maybe someone heard about someone that had sued. Seems like someone would have by now.
Even if you hadn't opted out by their deadline i don't see how it would absolutely preclude you from filing your own case even now. Seems to me you could do it any time for any reason if you had the dough to retain an attorney.

You're wrong, with one caveat.

If you own a gen1 or gen 2 vehicle and there is no approved fix by May, 2018, you will be informed that you have a second window (30 days, I believe) to opt out and file an action on your own.

Since you apparently own a 2015 (gen 3) GSW, there is an approved fix and you'll get no second opportunity to opt out.

Bobman58 said:

Even if you hadn't opted out by their deadline i don't see how it would absolutely preclude you from filing your own case even now.

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I guess anyone can file anything, but (at a minimum) the case would be dismissed nearly immediately, and you'd be on the hook for your attorney's fees and any court costs. The court might even decide that you should pay VW's attorney fees as well. IMO, it'd be unethical for an attorney to file such a case.

Opt out

Hmmm. I suppose that's true. Just seems odd that you can decide for buyback or fix right up until you turn in the car but the door is completely shut on your legal option to sue them if you dont feel like you are getting a fair shake.

We just received the email saying that everything is accepted and we can call for an appt to have the first part of the fix. Of course we had to go get the release notarized, $40( two signitures). Seems to me like they should pay for that. I'm just wondering how much more they are going to nickel and dime me before this gets done. I fully expect there to be something that has to be fixed by the dealer, that i will have to pay for, before they can do the first fix.

Bobman58 said:

<snip>Of course we had to go get the release notarized, $40( two signitures).<snip>

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I don't know whether this is SOP in CA, but anyone out here would be aghast at being charged this for a notary. When we put in our buyback papers, we just strolled into our bank, and the receptionist was a notary. I tried to show her our account number, but she didn't even care. Just notarized and signed the form, and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

Rico567 said:

I don't know whether this is SOP in CA, but anyone out here would be aghast at being charged this for a notary. When we put in our buyback papers, we just strolled into our bank, and the receptionist was a notary. I tried to show her our account number, but she didn't even care. Just notarized and signed the form, and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

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IIR it was only $5 at the UPS store

Some banks notarize for free if you have accounts. My bank said I was the third person they had seen that day with a VW

Rico567 said:

I don't know whether this is SOP in CA, but anyone out here would be aghast at being charged this for a notary.

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Notary fees in CA are very high (though I didn't remember that they'd reached $20/signature). That might be partially explained by the fact that CA notaries need to be bonded, which isn't required in many other states.

Rico567 said:

I don't know whether this is SOP in CA, but anyone out here would be aghast at being charged this for a notary. When we put in our buyback papers, we just strolled into our bank, and the receptionist was a notary. I tried to show her our account number, but she didn't even care. Just notarized and signed the form, and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

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x2. This is a very common bank policy, I have never encountered any bank that didn't provide free notary services for account holders.

Free notary at Chase branches in CA that have the Private Client service setup. They never asked for my account number, although I do bank there.