Volvo Cars not to contest manslaughter verdict
Volvo Cars has said it will not appeal against a ruling in a French court ordering the Swedish car maker to pay a €200,000 fine for manslaughter relating to a fatal crash in 1999.
"We are not going to do that," Volvo Cars spokesman Olle Axelson told AFP when asked if the company planned to appeal.
A French court of appeal last week upheld a previous ruling that found that faulty brakes on the Volvo 850 TDI vehicle indirectly caused the accident, in which a French schoolteacher ran over and killed two young children on their way to school.
"It's not easy to appeal at this stage. We (would) need to find formal mistakes in the court's decision and we're not going to find that," Axelson said.
"This process has now been going on for nine years. Enough is enough ... What has happened is very sad for the families and we think it's enough," he added.
He insisted that even though Volvo was not appealing the verdict, it maintained its argument that the brakes were not faulty.
"There was nothing wrong with the car," Axelson said.
The court also confirmed the sentence handed to the driver, Catherine Kohtz, 57, who received a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €300 fine, and had her licence temporarily revoked for failure to control her vehicle.
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"We are not going to do that," Volvo Cars spokesman Olle Axelson told AFP when asked if the company planned to appeal.
A French court of appeal last week upheld a previous ruling that found that faulty brakes on the Volvo 850 TDI vehicle indirectly caused the accident, in which a French schoolteacher ran over and killed two young children on their way to school.
"It's not easy to appeal at this stage. We (would) need to find formal mistakes in the court's decision and we're not going to find that," Axelson said.
"This process has now been going on for nine years. Enough is enough ... What has happened is very sad for the families and we think it's enough," he added.
He insisted that even though Volvo was not appealing the verdict, it maintained its argument that the brakes were not faulty.
"There was nothing wrong with the car," Axelson said.
The court also confirmed the sentence handed to the driver, Catherine Kohtz, 57, who received a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €300 fine, and had her licence temporarily revoked for failure to control her vehicle.
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