On Sep 23, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello

I wonder whether you would potentially have a cause of action under
the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive? Certainly in Ireland, by
virtue of Section 74 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 (the act
which transposed the directive into Irish law) an unfair, misleading
or prohibited commercial practice is actionable in damages, including
aggravated and exemplary damages, subject to certain exceptions.

To be honest I am not sure if that right to damages is found in the
directive or was national gold plating (I suspect the latter) and I do
not know if there is an equivalent right in the UK transposition for
example.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2007/act/19/section/74/enacted/en/html

Kind regards

Ger

On 9/23/15, Eoin O'Dell <ODELLE@tcd.ie> wrote:

Dear all

The claim in the U.S. class action suit is here, FWIW:
http://cliffordlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Dorn-Haralovich-v-Volkswagen.pdf

Eoin

———————————————
Dr Eoin O'Dell
School of Law, TCD

+353 87 202 1120 (m)

Sent from my iPhone
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On 23 Sep 2015, at 08:11, HOGG Martin
<Martin.Hogg@ed.ac.uk<mailto:Martin.Hogg@ed.ac.uk>> wrote:

Dear all,

I am the owner of a Volkswagen Polo. It is not one of the diesel ones which
are being recalled because of allegedly falsified emission tests.
Nonetheless, it is a car tarnished by having a VW badge on it. When I come
to sell it, I may well find that I get less for it than I might otherwise
have, because of general reputational damage caused to the brand by VW’s (it
would appear) fraudulent practices. I wonder whether circumstances such as
these might trigger a damages claim against VW by owners of cars in my
position. Breach of contract might found the basis (though for breach of
what term? Contracts for the purchase of a car don’t import, I imagine, an
implied term of mutual trust and confidence, such as arises in employment
contracts, and founded “stigma damages” in the Malik v BBCI case), but I
doubt that a tortious/delictual claim would arise (given the potentially
huge number of claimants affected by the pure economic loss suffered, albeit
that any of them who directly bought their car from VW would be in a
proximate relationship by virtue of the contractual relationship). I’d be
interested to hear anyone’s thoughts on this. (I’m not actually thinking of
suing VW, as my intention was to drive the car for a number of years until
it basically gave up, so my musings on the subject are purely
hypothetical).

Best wishes,

Martin

Professor Martin A. Hogg
Edinburgh Law School
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