ACTIONS CORNER

The Federal government has had to step in to oblige Daimler to toe the line laid down by the European Union in April 2013 regarding the use of a new more environmentally friendly cooling fluid. Failure to do so will entitle the EU Commission to defer the issue – and Germany – to the European Court. On September 25, Brussels notified the federal government of the need for the air conditioning units to be in conformity with European law. Daimler, counterclaiming that the new fluid is easily flammable, is continuing to use the older product. The dispute over the new fluid has been dragging on for two years.

Deutsche Bank is one of the eleven banks being sued by the State of Virginia for 1.15 thousand million dollars overall amid claims of controversial mortgages, the highest claim in the history of financial fraud. The magistrate claims that between 2004 and 2010 the bank unloaded junk bonds underwritten by highly unprofitable real-estate credit into the state pension fund that then suffered huge losses when it was obliged to sell the stock. The banks have only three weeks to put together a defence.

Infinion and the European Commission have been heading towards litigation ever since the monopolies regulator handed down a 138 million Euro fine on three chip makers for alleged price fixing on chip card applications. At 82.7 million, the amount facing the German manufacturer is the steepest. From its headquarters in Neubiberg, the company denies all charges and announces it will fight the case and defend its procedural rights which, it maintains, have been denied. According to European Union sources, this inquiry has been ongoing since 2008.