German Court Questions VW Diesel Payouts

German drivers of Volkswagen Group vehicles whose diesels were rigged to evade emission standards may not be entitled to damages after all, a judge in Brunswick suggests.

The central question, says Judge Michael Neef, is whether owners suffered any loss of value because of the cheating. He points out that affected customers have continued to drive their vehicle for four years after the scandal arose, Reuters reports.

Neef says a three-judge panel will further discuss compensation during a hearing on Nov. 18. Reuters notes that several other courts in Germany have approved payments. VW continues to argue that no compensation is warranted because the tainted vehicles continued to be driven.

VW Group has spent some €30 billion ($33 billion) to date on fines, environmental restitution, software and hardware updates, owner payments and vehicle buybacks—mostly in the U.S.—after admitting in 2015 that it rigged 11 million diesels worldwide with so-called defeat devices.