A Chicago-area auto dealership owner is suing Volkswagen because he believes the automaker didn’t provide enough warning regarding its looming diesel emissions scandal when he purchased a dealership from the company.
According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Ed Napleton’s lawsuit against Volkswagen claims the company didn’t notify him about the scandal which was “about to toss the Volkswagen brand value off a proverbial cliff,” when he agreed to purchase a Volkswagen dealership in Urbana, Ill. on Sept. 15.
Volkswagen admitted to officials that it had applied “defeat devices” to diesel vehicles in an effort to cheat emissions tests two weeks prior to the deal with Napleton, but that news wouldn’t become public for another three days.
The suit also said Volkswagen is guilty of “remarkable hubris and little care for its dealers, customers, and our planet as a whole,” according to the Tribune.
The Napleton family own three Volkswagen dealerships in Florida and Illinois, and more than 50 other dealerships throughout the country. The lawsuit claims that Ed Napleton has lost more than $5 million due to the scandal.
Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan told the Tribune that the company is reviewing the complaint made by Napleton but declined to say anything more than that the company is attempting to rectify the issues it faces with federal regulators.
Volkswagen sold an estimated 11 million diesel vehicles featuring the “defeat devices” worldwide over the last few years. The device allowed vehicles to pass emissions tests despite the fact that they would emit as high as 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide when in normal use.
