VW: Updated Timeline & Canada Update
As we updated you in last month’s newsletter, Wilmington Trust has been appointed as the trustee that will oversee the administration of the Volkswagen Settlement funds. Now, we are waiting for the Trustee Effective Date to take effect, which could happen at any time. That will kick off the next actions from the states where they will choose their beneficiaries and then draft their mitigation plans.
Each state has 60 days to determine who their beneficiary will be, so if the Trustee Effective Date takes place by the end of April, then beneficiaries will be named by the end of June. Once they have been named, it’s important for you to reach out to your state’s beneficiary and introduce yourself (if you haven’t already done so). You can find a list of potential beneficiaries that we have compiled online here. Once the beneficiaries are in place, they will have 90 days (which would bring us to the end of September) to produce a draft plan for how they will use the funds.
Once draft plans are published, you will have 30 days to respond to the proposed program for your state and comment whether you feel they are using the funds adequately. Written responses are imperative at this stage to drive any changes to the final state plans. We will be coordinating with you on the responses in late September or October, so we keep our messaging consistent.
If you have any questions about the progress your state has made or next steps, please reach out to Chelsea Uphaus at chelsea.uphaus@roush.com or 734-466-6710 to discuss.
UPDATED U.S. TIMELINE:
Update: Canadian Settlement
It sounds like the Volkswagen settlement in Canada will be handled differently than how it’s being done in the U.S. We have heard that the only available funds will be for consumers to buy back / replace their non-compliant vehicles. There will be no NOx mitigation funds available in Canada.
