Volkswagen and Audi have consented to a US$85 million diesel settlement in principle, on flouting of the Texas environmental norms arising from the Dieselgate scandal,  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, Reuters noted. 

The settlement states that the German auto firms shell out US$ 85 million for their unlawful actions, Paxton stated, as noted by this newswire.

Earlier in the month, Texas Supreme Court said that the environmental lawsuit against the companies could be taken ahead, Reuters reported.

Volkswagen, which refrained from offering a clarification, earlier settled over US$ 20 billion in settlements in the emissions scandal, but it did not protect it from the state besides local government liability, courts had stated earlier, Reuters reported.

In 2015, the auto company had admitted to making use of software to circumvent emissions requirements in around 11 million vehicles the world over, Reuters reported. It also misdirected the U.S. EPA which began its probe into the issue in 2014, Reuters reported.

Volkswagen’s US unit two years ago argued albeit unsuccessfully, that in the US environmental law, only the federal government could follow up on emissions claims, Reuters reported.