ACTIONS CORNER

It seems increasingly inevitable that BASF will have to face billion dollar claims for damages in the USA. When it took over its competitor Engelhard 9 years ago for 5 billion dollars, little did it know it was taking delivery of a ticking time bomb of legal fees. Now, the company is having to devise a defence strategy against allegations of reticence in asbestos claims related to events that took place decades ago. Lawyer Tom Bevan who acted then on behalf of hundreds of claimants against Engelhard has resumed their actions and states that the liability risk involved could cost several billion Euros.

The only witness to appear in court on September 22 in the penal trial against five top managers of Deutsche Bank was Christian Graf Thun-Hohenstein who could turn the whole case round in favour of the plaintiff. Jürgen Fitschen’s defence counsel had accused the Munich magistrates of spinning the trial out by rejecting the testimony of a further two witnesses on the grounds that their evidence would not have contributed to further clarifying the facts. In the proceedings against the former Deutsche Bank co-CEO and other top-level bankers accused of fraud the court has ruled that the trial can be concluded before the end of this year.

VOLKSWAGEN is in need of legal assistance and has selected the American law firm Kirkland Ellis, the same firm who defended BP after the explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in 2010. The scandal of the exhaust gas emission figures has already slashed 24 billion Euros off the company’s market value. The estimated number of vehicles involved is 11 million and there are 40 class actions on the horizon in the USA and Canada alone. The accusation cites fraud, violation of contractual obligations and other breaches of the law. Consumers feel they have been craftily, deliberately and systemically swindled with regards to the environmental-friendly promises.