The federal judge in the Volkswagen diesel emissions litigation has denied 244 motions for attorney fees but lifted an earlier injunction which had prevented law firms from suing their own clients for payment.
Monday’s order was an unusual twist in the class actions that Volkswagen settled last year for $14.7 billion to resolve claims by consumers of 475,000 “clean diesel” vehicles that cheated emissions tests. In a separate arrangement, Volkswagen agreed to pay an additional $175 million in attorney fees and costs to 22 law firms that were appointed to the plaintiffs steering committee heading up more than 1,200 class actions.
