More than 100 Volkswagen owners join Winnipeg class action lawsuit

The number of peoplesigning on to a class action lawsuit against Volkswagen is growing in Manitoba.

Recently it was discovered the German automaker installed software on 11 million dieselvehicles worldwide thatenabled themto cheat emissions tests andevadeEnvironmental Protection Agency standards.

Winnipeg lawyer Norman Boudreaufiled a class actionsuit on behalf of local VW owners in Court of Queen's Bench on Sept. 23.

Boudreauhas gathered more than 100 signatures for the suit in the last week.

"The numbers are very high in my opinion," said Boudreau. "People that are interested enough to pick up the phone or send us an email and actively want to be part of this class action.... I think it's very positive, very encouraging."

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Most of the people to have come forward in Manitoba are from Winnipeg.Some VW owners from outside of the province have also joinedBoudreau'ssuit, he said.

VW value questioned

Many VW owners are growing concerned about the value of their vehicles,Boudreausaid.

"They still have their vehicle. There is some value in what they purchased,"Boudreausaid. "Everybody is not going to get a brand new car. Certainly it will be a monetary compensation."

Beyond the value of the vehicles, owners who purchased VWs based ontheir apparent emissions record areirked by the nature of the scandal.

"A lot of people are concerned with respect to the environment," Boudreau said."That they had consciously bought the Volkswagen vehicle thinking that they were going to contribute positively to have a clean environment and now they're disappointed in that."

Bourdeausaid that whileother classaction lawsuits are popping up across Canada, it could take months for them to get certified. Some may even end up getting settled out of court, he added.