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 New Jersey's acting attorney general, John J. Hoffman, accused VW
and its Porsche and Audi units of perpetrating a massive fraud on
consumers and violating state clean air laws.
VW has admitted installing illegal diesel emissions software to
allow 580,000 U.S. diesel vehicles sold since 2009 to emit up to 40
times legally allowable emissions. It faces a U.S. ban on selling
2016 diesel models and is holding talks with California, which
issued a separate ban, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to win approval for a repair plan for the vehicles.
"For the past decade Volkswagen engaged in one of the largest frauds
in the history of the automobile industry," the lawsuit filed in
Superior Court in Hudson County said. "It developed and distributed
into the marketplace sophisticated software to evade emissions
requirements, it misled regulators about the true environmental
impact of its vehicles, and it misled consumers about the products
that it was marketing as supposedly good for the environment."
In addition to civil penalties for alleged violation of state air
pollution and consumer fraud laws, the state is seeking restitution
to consumers.
Volkswagen said Friday that the company's "top priority in the
United States is to identify an approved remedy for affected diesel
vehicles. We continue to cooperate fully with the EPA and
(California) to achieve this goal."
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New Jersey is joining the states of Texas, New Mexico and West
Virginia and Harris County, Texas, in suing Volkswagen. The U.S.
Justice Department filed its own lawsuit accusing VW of violating
clean air laws and seeking up to $46 billion on Jan. 4.
VW faces more than 500 civil lawsuits that have been consolidated
before a federal judge in California, who has retained a former FBI
director as a settlement adviser.
The automaker also faces investigations by 48 U.S. state attorneys.
Earlier this week, VW filed a repair and recall plan for 80,000
3.0-liter diesel SUVs and larger cars. California last month
rejected a separate fix plan for more than 480,000 2.0 diesel cars,
saying it was insufficient and not timely enough.
The U.S. Justice Department and German prosecutors are also
investigating the automaker, which has said up to 11 million
vehicles worldwide were equipped with the software.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Leslie Adler, Bernard
Orr)
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