Dieselgate lawyers have their ‘absurd’ costs estimates slashed by judges

Legal teams battling over the ‘dieselgate’ emissions scandal have been told their cost estimates are ‘eye watering’ and ‘absurd’ by judges.

After a three-day hearing, senior judges have slashed the claimants’ costs budget from £208m to £52m.

The defendants’ budget – a collective of a dozen car manufacturers – also had their costs budget cut from £212m to £114m, according to a report in The Law Society Gazette.

The claimants – represented by Leigh Day and Pogust Goodhead – are seeking £6bn in compensation from car manufacturers over claims they cheated diesel emissions regulations.

The judges said arguments from the claimants that their costs should be similar to those of the multiple defendants were ‘wholly untenable’.

‘There appears to be little effort – nor, it seems, incentive – to run this litigation in a manner so as to minimise, as far as reasonably possible, the number of lawyers and the hours they suggest they need to work in order to sensibly progress this litigation,’ said the judges.

The judges labelled the claimants’ budget for disclosure of £21m as ‘absurd’. 

For the trial itself the claimants estimated they would need 34 lawyers working 12-hour days with counsel costing £440,000 per week and solicitors £1m.

However, judges said they could not see ‘any real value’ added by ‘such a fleet of lawyers’.

The trial is scheduled for March 2026 and a preliminary issue hearing has been set for October this year.

Lawgistics motor trade legal expert Nona Bowkis said: ‘Absurd and eye watering are probably the politest descriptions of the costs in this case. It’s outrageous.

‘I am pleased the court saw fit to slash the costs by such a margin. Those costs were outrageously absurd, even after the reduction to 25%.’

The legal teams have been contacted for comment.