Last week, Europe hit truckmakers with a 3 billion euro fine for colluding to fix prices and delay the rollout of cleaner engines. That fine is double the old Brussels record. But it is civil damages that really terrify the truck industry. A leading European plaintiffs lawyer calculates exposure of $180 billion. That’s not a typo.
“Trucks is a monster case,” says Christopher Rother of Hausfeld in Germany. “It’s not only the biggest fine ever imposed in European history but by far the biggest damages case in European history. In comparison, the Volkswagen case is a small one.”
