VW had already made substantial provisions in late 2015 to cover other vehicle recalls, and because previous fines by US authorities for similar violations were below $200 million, there was no need to issue an ad-hoc disclosure notice under German law, the carmaker said in the filing. Volkswagen says board members at the time, including Volkswagen's current Chief Executive Herbert Diess and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch therefore did not violate disclosure rules, according to the VW defence document filed with the court. "Neither the management board nor individual board members caused or were involved with the compliance violation in the United States," VW's court filing said. However, plaintiffs, including lawyer Andreas Tilp from law firm TILP and fund management firm Deka, argue that managers below management board level, including divisional heads, knew about deliberate and systematic emissions cheating.