The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld [opinion, PDF] Monday a $10 billion class action settlement against Volkswagen for a 2015 emissions cheating scandal.

Volkswagen has admitted [press release] to installing devices in certain models of their diesel vehicles to have them defeat US emissions tests. Anywhere from 10-40 times the legal amount of diesel fumes were being released into the air under normal operating conditions.

The action resulted in multiple class action lawsuits [JURIST archive] with nearly 500,000 people owning the affected vehicles.

The lawsuit questioned the certification of the class, the approval of the settlement, and the denial of a class member’s motion to opt out. All three points were approved and the settlement stands.