In its fight for the rights of American truckers, OOIDA won two key rulings this week when federal judges in Utah and Florida granted tens of thousands of owner-operators class-action status in lawsuits against two carriers - C.R. England and Landstar.
Both cases challenge the legality of the trucking companies' leases.
There could be as many as 23,000 owner-operators in the class action against Landstar and several more thousand in the class action against C.R. England, according to OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston.
Johnston said he was pleased and encouraged by the class-action orders from Judge Ted Stewart in Utah and Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. in Florida. In approving class-action status in the cases, the federal judges cleared the way for OOIDA to represent truckers as a group against each of the motor carriers.
"We are very pleased with both of these decisions," Johnston said Wednesday, Aug. 31.
"We have fought for a long time to get the real issues before the court and address the real issues that are impacting truckers. With these cases we can address the many improper deductions and other costs that are reducing truckers' incomes.
"These orders get us one step closer to having the cases heard on their merits."
Johnston said class-action status is crucial because individual truckers just don't have the time or money to fight these motor carriers one-on-one. Now the association can proceed with the cases and its ongoing efforts to get fair and legal leases in place for OOIDA members and all truckers in America.
Among the problems, cited by OOIDA in the case against C.R. England, are alleged illegal handling of escrow accounts - often referred to in the industry as maintenance and tire funds. The association also claims the motor carrier illegally forced owner-operators to purchase goods and services including insurance. The association also cites overcharges for insurance and excessive and undocumented chargebacks.
In the case against Landstar, OOIDA claims that the motor carrier violated the federal Truth-in-Leasing regulations in several ways:
- failing to disclose information required by the regulations in its lease agreements with owner-operators;
- overcharging owner-operators for fuel and transaction fees related to the purchase of fuel;
- failing to disclose and unlawfully deducting amounts related to military shipments; and
- unlawfully overcharging for base plates and permits issued by the states.
For the case against C.R. England - which is being handled by a federal court in Utah - the class is defined as all owner-operators in the United States who signed federally regulated leases with C.R. England or its agents or business affiliates beginning in June 1998 and continuing through the duration of the court case.
For the case against Landstar - which is being handled by a federal court in Florida - the class is defined as all owner-operators in the United States who signed federally regulated leases beginning Nov. 1, 1998 and continuing through the duration of the court case. The leases may be with Landstar Inway Inc., Landstar Ranger Inc. or Landstar Ligon Inc. or any of those companies' agents or affiliates.
The Landstar case is scheduled for trial in April 2006.
- By Coral Beach, staff editor
coral_beach@landlinemag.com
