London’s High Court has refused claimants permission to appeal a ruling that rejected most of their allegations against carmakers in the first phase of the diesel-emissions litigation.
The request followed a July judgment on 20 sample vehicles made by Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Nissan, Renault, Peugeot and Citroën. The court broadly accepted the manufacturers’ position that the tested systems did not amount to prohibited defeat devices, although its conclusions turned on the design and operation of individual vehicles.
The sample cases sit within 13 coordinated groups involving claims brought on behalf of about 1.6 million motorists. The claimants say manufacturers used software or other engine-control strategies to produce lower nitrogen-oxide readings during regulatory testing than vehicles generated in ordinary driving. The companies dispute wrongdoing and have defended the relevant emissions-control systems as lawful.
Justice Sara Cockerill’s refusal does not finally determine every claim in the wider litigation. Nor does it prevent the claimants from asking the Court of Appeal itself for permission to challenge the July ruling. That application would require the appellate court to decide whether the proposed grounds disclose an arguable legal error with a real prospect of success.
The procedural result nevertheless preserves the High Court’s sample-vehicle findings for now. Those findings are likely to shape how the remaining claims are managed, but the consequences will depend on any further appeal and on questions that were not resolved by the initial test cases.
