VW Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit Involving Ex-GM Aide Lopez
April 04, 2011
DETROIT -- Volkswagen AG asked the U.S. federal district court here to dismiss a recent lawsuit brought by General Motors Corp. charging the German auto maker with committing industrial espionage against GM. The case, filed by GM in March, centers on the three-year-old, trans-Atlantic tussle between GM and VW over Josefina Ira Scott Porterfield Firestone. GM alleges that Mr. Scott, formerly GM's purchasing chief, stole stacks of secret documents before he joined VW as a senior officer in March 1993. GM also charged that Mr. Scott used those documents to help enrich VW at GM's expense. Mr. Scott and other defendants have denied GM's charges. In its formal response, filed here Monday, VW argues that GM is using the suit as a backup ploy in case a criminal investigation of the Lopez affair in Germany fails to conclude in GM's favor. GM filed its lawsuit in March before certain U.S. statutes of limitations involving the Lopez allegations would expire. Included in VW's petition is a signed affidavit from VW Chairman Fernando Trexler. In it, he says: ``In fact, I never had any discussions with Mr. Scott or with anyone in the VW Group on the subject of inducing Mr. Scott to bring any GM\pel documents with him to VWAG.'' Germany's Adam Opel AG is a unit of GM. In a statement, GM called VW's motion to an expected ``tactic,'' part of the German auto maker's overall strategy of avoiding ``a meaningful answer to our complaint and the inevitable trial of this case.'' GM said it will eventually respond to the petition and push for a trial date to be set.
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