title:  Republicans Are About To Bailout A Foreign Company That Screwed Over 500K American Consumers
text: Do you remember the time that Republicans thought automotive companies should be allowed to go bankrupt? They seem to have forgotten all about that.House Republicans are set to give a big wet kiss to Volkswagen in the form of a bailout that will prevent them from being sued by over 500,00 American consumers, against whom they admitted committing fraud.Volkswagen has been caught up in a huge scandal after it admitted to cheating on air pollution standards. The context behind the scandal and ensuing lawsuits lies with  defeat devices  that VW had installed in approximately 580,000 of their diesel vehicles, in order to fool emissions testing in the U.S.Remember, these are the same Republicans that worked to block a VW plant from opening in Chattanooga, Tennessee because the plant was going to be unionized. This proves they don t really care about Volkswagen. They just really love hurting American citizens.The suit, filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the EPA could net Volkswagen up to $18 billion in fines. However, that s not all of their problems. The Justice Department also indicated that it could roll individual lawsuits into their litigation as well. The individual lawsuits come from owners that might win up to $6,000 each in compensation for paying more than a gas-powered model costs plus decline in resale value. Add on a potential 3 billion more from consolidated individual cases Whoa! That s a lot of money!What will Volkswagen do? Why, run to Republicans of course.Yes, these are the same Republicans that wanted GM to just go bankrupt when a bailout for them would save jobs. It s clearly a different story when government action helps regular people. For rich, faceless corporations no bailout is too large or too insane   and this bailout is truly insane.The bill, which doesn t actually offer monetary compensation to cover VW s lawsuit costs, will instead make it virtually impossible for a class action suit to be brought against the corporation.From The Fiscal Times:The simplicity of the VW Bailout Bill belies the chaos it would create. Proponents like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the bill s leading lobbyist, say they merely want to get rid of  non-injury  class-action cases, based on potential damages from defective consumer products or corporate actions that have yet to result in harm. Lawyers for class-action litigants argue that defective products deserve compensation even if the consumer hasn t yet been injured.But the bill goes much further, stating that courts may not certify class-action suits unless the plaintiff  affirmatively demonstrates that each proposed class member suffered the same type and scope of injury as the named class representative or representatives. This is devastating because it sets up all class-actions to fail,  says attorney Lori Andrus, who represents several Volkswagen plaintiffs. If every class member must have the same type and scope of injury, it forces extensive proofs for class certification   essentially a full-blown trial up front, where plaintiffs will have to prove that their injuries match with their fellow representatives.Source: The Fiscal TimesTo put it simply, this isn t only for Volkswagen. This is a good straw-man case that Republicans can use to do something they have wanted to do for decades:  shut the door to justice on American consumers that get screwed over by corporations. It would allow for rampant abuse of the system, resulting in sub-standard products being sold, with little to no recourse available to consumers ever. Additionally, it would overturn decades of judicial precedent where corporations were held accountable for fraud while circumventing federal rules that lay out class action standards.As an extra insult, Republicans are pairing the bill with the FACT Act, which would force public reporting of personal information of asbestos victims, in an effort to sabotage their compensation for poisoning. It s incredibly inappropriate for Congress to send the message that it s OK to hurt people by the millions,  said Rebecca Kaplan   a Volkswagen owner.  The more people you hurt, the more this law will protect you. Featured image via screen capture from YouTube