More than 500 civil lawsuits filed against Volkswagen AG over the use of software to evade emissions limits will be heard by a federal judge in California, a U.S. judicial panel responsible for consolidating related lawsuits said on Tuesday. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said the cases will be heard by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in the Northern District of California. Volkswagen and the U.S.