High Court Considers The Requirement For "Awareness" In Implied Misrepresentation Claims

The High Court has refused an application to strike out or summarily dismiss a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation in the group litigation against Volkswagen arising from the well-known "Dieselgate" emissions scandal. The court held that conscious awareness of the alleged implied misrepresentation was not necessary for the claim to have a real prospect of success at trial: Crossley & Ors v Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft & Ors [2021] EWHC 3444 (QB).

This contrasts with the recent line of authorities which have held that conscious awareness is a necessary part of a claimant's case, in the context of claims brought against banks for alleged implied misrepresentations in respect of LIBOR setting, most recently Leeds City Council and others v Barclays Bank plc and another  [2021] EWHC 363 (Comm) (see blog post here).