Volkswagen did a very bad thing: it installed software in hundreds of thousands of cars sold in the United States designed to defeat pollution tests, and then obfuscated when confronted with the evidence.
Last Thursday a U.S. federal court said that the company would either have to fix or buy back some 500,000 cars. The judge also indicated that Volkswagen would have to make a substantial payment to the car owners, regardless of how the problem is finally resolved, to make them whole.
I am all for applying a severe punishment to the company–fraudulently manipulating its equipment to evade a test result is an outrageous act that the government must punish to ensure companies don’t feel emboldened to emulate them. However, the judge lost me when he asserted that the recipients of this essentially tortious payment should be the injured car owners. From my perspective, I’m not that sure that they are victims here.
The drivers undoubtedly saw the resale value of their cars fall owing to the scandal, but that should be something that the car buybacks can account for without too much trouble. However, the higher emissions from the cars didn’t hurt the owners–it damaged the environment, which means it affected all of us, regardless of whether we own a Volkswagen.