Mass. AG Suing Volkswagen (Again)

A $15.3 billion settlement won't be the end of Volkswagen's woes, if the attorney generals from Massachusetts and New York get their way in a new lawsuit that alleges egregious and knowing deception on the part of the German automaker.

The company settled last month with states and regulators, including Massachusetts, for cheating emissions tests on its diesel engine vehicles. A federal criminal probe is ongoing.

Mass. AG Maura Healey joined New York's Eric Schneiderman in his home state Tuesday to announce the new suit, which alleges VW's scheme goes back years, touches every level of leadership and broke state-level environmental laws by knowingly cheating emissions tests, yet marketing their diesel cars as green and good-for-the-environment.

"Thousands of MA consumers were defrauded by VW's actions. Auto manufacturers that violate our laws will be punished," Healey tweeted Tuesday after her appearance alongside Schneiderman in New York.

Healey also took a vocal lead in the separate, multi-state suit that VW settled with consumers and regulators in June. Under that settlement, Massachusetts is in line for $70 million toward environmental mitigation efforts and $20 million for violating consumer protections laws. Consumers here could recoup an estimated $64 million, based on the number of registered vehicles and minimum payment under the settlement.

• Read more: Massachusetts to Get Tens of Millions From Volkswagen Settlement

Regardless of how this latest lawsuit shakes out, the internal emails showcased in the AGs' complaint shovel additional manure onto a company already struggling to escape from under a heap of bad publicity.

Two excerpts shared by New York AG Schneiderman include an email purportedly to VW's CEO from its quality management director, and another to its communications head from the environmental and engineering director.

"A thorough explanation for [high] emissions cannot be given to authorities," reads the first, according to the AG, including bracketed type.

Reads the second excerpt, brackets included, "Audi's [V6] has exactly the same issues [as VW diesels], but not public yet. They have not been caught."

According to Schneiderman, the new suit "reveals a culture of corporate arrogance and a conscious disregard for the rule of law," and allegations of "calculated and systematic illegality" that touches the highest reaches of corporate hierarchy.

In a statement released to The Boston Globe, VW said:

“The allegations in complaints filed by certain states today are essentially not new and we have been addressing them in our discussions with U.S. federal and state authorities.”

It additionally told the Globe, in its statement, that the suits are "regrettable," as it works with state/federal regulators on a “comprehensive national resolution” of environmental issues related to the diesel scandal. That includes a $2.7 billion fund that states can use for environmental needs, VW noted.

As the paper points out, it is not Healey's first foray into high-profile corporate litigation. She earlier this year joined a lawsuit alongside Schneiderman into Exxon Mobil. Her accusation — that the company defrauded investors by hiding its own past climate change research — was answered by Exxon with its own suit, which labeled Healey's probe a politically motivated "fishing expedition."

>> Photo via Attorney General Maura Healey Twitter