The Supreme Court of Tennessee recently scheduled a hearing for Feb. 6, 2001, to hear argument in OOIDA's suit challenging the imposition of surcharges on credit card transactions by Flying J and Pilot truckstops. OOIDA's lawsuit alleges that Flying J and Pilot's practice of imposing surcharges on fuel purchases using Visa or MasterCard credit cards violated agreements made by those truckstops not to impose surcharges.
In February 2000, Tennessee's Court of Appeals held that credit card holders had the legal right to enforce Visa and MasterCard's no surcharge rule against the truckstops. Flying J and Pilot then appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. OOIDA will ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the lower appellate court and to remand the case to the trial court to certify a class and calculate damages.
New Idaho law sucker punches truckers
Small-business truckdrivers in Idaho, already struggling to combat high fuel prices, now must try to survive the state's weight-distance tax being repealed. A new state law charges flat registration fees for trucks based on the range of miles it travels.
The state repealed the weight-distance tax to settle a suit brought by the American Trucking Associations claiming the two-tier tax was unconstitutional. As part of a settlement, Idaho replaced the ton-mile tax with higher registration fees. The new system charges truckers a flat fee based on a range of miles the trucks run. Under the system, trucks that travel up to 7,500 miles will pay $450, but trucks that travel 7,501 to 50,000 miles pay four times what they paid under the old weight-distance tax. Registration for an 80,000-pound truck that travels 7,501 miles costs about $2,000 compared to $337 under the old law.
Owner-operator and OOIDA board member Bill Rode, of Artesian, ID, says the new system and its impact to truckers is a surprise to most. "Most guys didn't know they were going to get hit like this," Rode told Land Line. "The consensus among drivers is if we have to pay this price it will shut us down."
State
Sen. Darrel Deide and Senate Transportation Committee member Jerry
Thorne are working on a bill to reevaluate the new truck registration
system to replace the weight-distance tax
-Keith
Goble
Intrenet Inc. ceases operations leaving owner-operators in limbo
On Jan. 2, 2001, Intrenet Inc. announced that its subsidiary trucking companies would cease operations; most of its employees would be laid off; and its assets would be sold to satisfy creditors. Intrenet, Inc. trucking company subsidiaries include Roadrunner Trucking, Eck Miller Transportation, Advanced Distribution Services and Roadrunner Distribution Services.
The subsidiaries utilized the services of some 1,100 owner-operators. The decision by Intrenet management places these contract owner-operators in serious financial jeopardy. According to the company's Jan. 2 press release, the company said it could not predict the extent to which its remaining assets would be sufficient to satisfy the claims of unsecured creditors. Leased owner-operators are unsecured creditors.
Most of the owner-operators leased to the trucking companies have load settlements pending for loads already delivered, and these owner-operators may all have escrow accounts of $1,000 or more under the control of Intrenet's subsidiaries.
OOIDA attorneys have been in contact with Intrenet CEO John Chandler in an effort to protect the interests of leased owner-operators. In a phone conversation on Jan. 4, Chandler told OOIDA attorneys it is not their plan to file bankruptcy. Chandler also indicated that leased owner-operators would be paid for all current loads.
If you are an owner-operator currently leased to any of the Intrenet Inc. subsidiaries, it is important for you to contact OOIDA to protect your interests and to hopefully salvage revenues that are rightfully yours.
Call our Business Services Department at 1-800-444-5791 as soon as possible.
-Todd Spencer
OOIDA's alternative HOS plan: simpler, easy to use
The hours-of-service rules must be much easier to understand and simpler to use, says the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, in formal written comments submitted to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Dec. 15. In addition to directly addressing the individual points of the FMCSA's proposed rules in detail, the 46-page OOIDA document suggests an alternative hours-of-service proposal for consideration.
According to OOIDA President Jim Johnston, "It is clear that the government's number one concern is with highway safety. Unfortunately, the major failing of the FMCSA's proposed regulation is that its authors are trying to achieve greater highway safety by micro-managing the work and personal habits of one sector of the driving public. In doing so, they have assembled large amounts of questionable academic research on fatigue to create an unworkable plan that disregards elements of common sense, the economic impact of their proposals and the realities of the trucking industry."
OOIDA's response document contends that data on truck accidents is woefully incomplete in illuminating their connection with fatigue. Another issue strongly criticized by OOIDA in its comments is the proposed introduction of on-board recording devices, or so-called "black boxes" into trucks. OOIDA's formal response goes so far as to outline its anticipated legal challenge to the implementation of such provisions as a violation of a trucker's privacy and his constitutional rights.
In the alternative proposal contained in the response, OOIDA recommends:
1. ten hours off-duty during each 24 hour period,
2. on-duty and off-duty time to be scheduled at the driver's discretion,
3. no maximum number of on-duty hours or days in a week,
4. no mandatory off-duty weekends, and
5. no electronic on-board recording devices.
The motivation behind OOIDA's alternative proposal is to make hours-of-service rules much easier to understand and simpler to use. Working on a 24-hour cycle "will allow drivers to adopt a more regular schedule than allowed under the current rules," according to OOIDA comments. "A rule that does not micro-manage a driver's schedules, but gives the driver the flexibility to sleep when they are tired, and adjust their schedules to the reasonable needs of their customers and unpredictable road, weather, and traffic conditions will be easy to comply with."
Considering the recent hold put on the hours-of-service issue by Congress and the possible change in regulatory philosophy by the new incoming administration, it is unclear as to when work will resume on redrafting the proposed rules.
The full text of the OOIDA response document can be accessed at www.ooida.com.
-Kelly Smith
PNV Inc. was notified by the Nasdaq National Market in early January that it faces delisting from the stock market exchange because of its fallen share price. The Coral Springs, FL-based provider of bundled communications, cable TV and Internet services to the trucking industry suspended operations on Dec. 28.
Nasdaq has informed PNV that it does not meet the listing criteria for inclusion of its common stock on the national market. PNV's shares fell to as low as 3 cents on Dec. 21. Also, news sources say PNV does not expect to become compliant and, therefore, expects to be delisted from Nasdaq in the near future.
PNV filed a Chapter 11 petition in mid-December in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami. The company listed $88.4 million in assets and $81.2 million in debts. Among PNV's largest creditors are Echostar Communications Corp., with $25.8 million in claims, Aspen Advisors LLC, with $15 million in claims and UBS Warburg Asset Management, with $13.7 million in claims. Among those asking "what's going on" are truckers who bought PNV's services. It is estimated that nearly 400 truckstops across the country offer truckdriver customers the option to pay a fee to hook into PNV's network.
PNV, after cutting 37 of its 307 workers in October, cut 190 more jobs in early January to get down to a reported "skeleton staff," reducing its workforce 74 percent since the fall.
