The claims are made up of “bundled” actions containing lawsuits from multiple plaintiffs, many of them private investors, according to the court in Brunswick in northern Germany. The embattled car manufacturing giant also faces lawsuits from large institutional investors, German state governments and the US government. Two of the claims lodged with the Brunswick court, from groups of institutional investors, account for a total of 2 billion euros alone. “The complete registration of the claims arrived up to now should be finished in four weeks,” the court close to VW’s Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony headquarters said. Investors have rushed to file compensation claims ahead of a perceived one-year deadline. The court said it has taken on extra staff and hired additional storage space to cope as the bunch of actions represents half the number of cases the tribunal normally hears in an entire year. Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to installing so-called “defeat devices” in 11 million diesel-powered vehicles sold around the world, which increase exhaust treatment when the car detects it is undergoing regulatory tests. The software then deactivates the cheating emissions system when the car is on the road, releasing higher than sanctioned levels of harmful nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere The carmaker battles other legal claims and investigations around the world, and analysts estimate that the final bill for the scandal could reach up to 35 billion euros. Its share price remains around 20 percent lower than it was before the crisis broke. But while the financial pain bites deep for the firm, recent figures show sales are holding up despite the blow to its reputation. “Volkswagen continues to believe that we comprehensively fulfilled our obligations under capital markets law and that the claims are unjustified,” a spokesman for the carmaker said on Friday. The VW group has set aside 18 billion euros to pay for the legal costs of the crisis, and has so far agreed to pay $15 billion in compensation and fines in the US alone.]]>