On March 24, 2016, Judge Charles Breyer held the fourth status conference for the consolidated multi-district litigation in San Francisco, California. The conference was very brief, lasting approximately ten minutes. The only topic discussed was the status of vehicle remediation.

As you may recall, at the last conference on February 22, 2016, Judge Breyer gave VW a thirty-day deadline to come up with a plan for how to get the polluting TDIs off of the road. VW was unable to meet this deadline. However, all of the parties (including the Plaintiffs, the Volkswagen Defendants, and the government) indicated to Judge Breyer that they had been meeting regularly to come up with a fix for the polluting cars and had made substantial progress. VW represented that their engineers were working “around the clock” to come up with a fix. Special Master Robert Mueller confirmed that the parties were close to coming up with a resolution in the case. Reportedly, the final plan may include a vehicle buy back OR a fix for the vehicles to remain on the road with modification OR a combination of the two.

Noting that the settlement talks were going very well and the parties were close to an agreement, Judge Breyer gave VW a thirty-day extension to come up with a concrete, specific, and detailed plan for both vehicle remediation AND payment to consumers. The next hearing is scheduled for April 21, 2016. Judge Breyer stated that if VW is unable to announce a concrete proposal at that hearing, then he would seriously consider holding a bench trial as to Volkswagen’s liability in this matter.