Fascinating little legal cul-de-sac here.
German car manufacturers Volkswagen and Audi — facing a lawsuit from Texas that could cost the companies millions stemming from the emissions cheating scheme uncovered in 2015 — argue that Gov. Greg Abbott could unfairly tilt the scales in the state’s favor by appointing two temporary justices to help decide the case.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht on June 24 asked Abbott to temporarily commission two justices to the state’s high court in order to decide a case related to an emissions-cheating lawsuit against Volkswagen and Audi. Volkswagen in 2015 admitted to deceiving regulators by designing software that circumvented U.S. emissions tests.
With tens of thousands of vehicles impacted in Texas, several millions of dollars could be at stake in the Texas case, according to the state’s civil penalties code. The issue before the state’s high court centers on whether Texas has jurisdiction over the foreign parent companies, Germany-based Volkswagen and Audi.
Justices Jimmy Blacklock and Evan Young recused themselves from the case, Hecht wrote in the letter, leaving the court with seven remaining members to rule on the case. The Texas constitution requires at least five justices to agree, one way or the other, in order to issue a supreme court decision, suggesting the remaining justices were split.
But because the state is a party in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s cases against the companies, Volkswagen and Audi’s lawyers have argued that allowing the Texas governor to appoint justices to a case for which the state stands to win a substantial amount of money would give “the impression that the State has had undue influence.”
“Although the Governor and the Attorney General are different officers, they both represent the same entity: the state of Texas,” wrote Jeffrey Wall, an attorney for Volkswagen in a letter to the court that was also sent to Abbott.
Hecht declined to comment on the letter, but a spokesperson for the Supreme Court of Texas said that there have been at least 13 other instances since 1995 in which the governor was asked to appoint temporary justices.
But neither the Supreme Court of Texas nor attorneys for the companies could identify another case in Texas history when the governor has been asked to commission temporary justices to a case for which the state is a party.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Volkswagen and Audi’s lawyers say appointing the justices at this point would give the appearance of bias to the court.
“Attorney General Paxton brought these actions on behalf of the state in an effort to recover massive penalties from respondents,” wrote Wall. “Simply put the state may not pick two judges who will help to decide whether it wins or loses before this court.”
If the governor doesn’t commission two more justices, the cases could return to the Texas Court of Appeals, where Volkswagen and Audi had successfully argued that Texas did not have jurisdiction over the foreign companies. The court had found that Volkswagen and Audi’s recall-tampering activities were not “purposefully directed” at Texas, but directed at the U.S. as a whole.
See here for my previous blogging on this. The last entry I have is from 2018, in which settlement money from a different lawsuit was being distributed. There will only be money at stake here if SCOTx disagrees with the appeals court, and I can see why VW and Audi might be skeptical about letting Greg Abbott pick the two replacement justices. One suggestion for how to resolve this is for both sides to agree on a couple of names. I’m thinking maybe put all of the current appellate court justices’ names into a hat and randomly draw two of them. This shouldn’t be that hard to solve. But it’s always cool to see something that hasn’t come up before.