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Nov 19, 2016

UBER's DILEMMA * USA: Trying to close suits, with billions at stake

* Uber close to settling drivers’ suit


--- Uber Technologies Inc. is trying to finalize a settlement with California drivers to resolve potentially billions of dollars in claims stemming from the company’s refusal to give them the protections and benefits of employees... The case centers on allegations that the company failed to pay minimum wage and overtime to hundreds of thousands of drivers... Lawyers didn’t disclose terms of the deal in court filings or during a hearing Wednesday in Los Angeles state court. But they told a judge that the agreement will address penalties sought against Uber under California’s so-called bounty hunter law. The Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, gives employees the right to step into the shoes of the state labor secretary to bring enforcement actions... The case is separate from a widely watched class action in San Francisco that also challenges Uber’s business model, which classifies drivers as independent contractors. The drivers in that complaint are seeking reimbursement for expenses and tips as well as PAGA penalties... U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco in August rejected Uber’s proposed $100 million settlement in his court in large part because he said said the deal undervalued potential PAGA claims... 
(Photo: Trucker Cesar Lopez. Uber of trucks' hauls big business in Los Angeles)  --  Los Angeles, CAL, UDA - Bloomberg, by Joel Rosenblatt/Edvard Pettersson - November 16, 2016

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Nov 15, 2016

Toyota's $3.4 Billion Settlement * USA: Corrosion in some trucks and SUVs

* California - Suits claim certain of Japanese auto maker’s vehicles, lacked proper rust protection


--- Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay up to about $3.4 billion to settle claims that certain of its trucks and sport-utility vehicles lacked proper rust protection, leading to premature corrosion of vehicle frames... The agreement is a substantial financial setback at a time when the Japanese auto giant’s record-breaking profit streak has slowed in recent quarters as a strong yen dents its performance. The company also is part of a broader group of auto makers facing plateauing retail sales in the profitable U.S. market... The deal, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles this week, settles litigation in two states over problems with Toyota Tacoma trucks from model years 2005 to 2010, Tundras from 2007 to 2008 and Sequoias from 2005 to 2008... Around 1.5 million vehicles in the U.S. are covered by the settlement, court filings show... The agreement represents a significant settlement for the auto industry and follows several costly agreements auto makers have forged in recent years to address quality, safety or emissions issues in vehicles... The litigation dates back to 2014, when consumers filed a lawsuit in Arkansas that was later combined with litigation in California...
(Photo  AP)   --  Sacramento, CAL, USA - The WSJ, by SARA RANDAZZO - Nov. 13, 2016

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Oct 13, 2016

TRUCKING OWNER & MANAGER LIABLES * USA: For safety-related whistleblower claim

* California - Trucking Company owner personally liable for whistleblower retaliation claim

--- Recent amendments to the Surface Transportation Act include a new cause of action for employees of companies engaged in interstate transportation who allege that they were fired or had other adverse action taken against them because they complained about safety concerns. In a recent unpublished decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the president and sole shareholder of a trucking company was personally liable for damages relating to termination of a driver who threatened to report the carrier to DOT for operating unsafe equipment... In Smith v. Perez, the federal Department of Labor (which enforces the whistleblower provisions of the STA) filed an administrative claim against the carrier, its owner and her husband for allegedly terminating a driver when he refused to continue driving after being involved in an accident he attributed to unsafe equipment. He claimed that he told the president that she could replace the equipment or replace him, and that he intended to report the unsafe equipment to DOT. DOL filed suit after investigating the employee’s retaliation complaint, alleging that the carrier told the employee that it accepted his resignation from employment in light of his threats... The Sixth Circuit confirmed that the STA’s whistleblower penalties apply to owners or supervisors of a carrier who retaliate against an employee who complains about safety conditions. The court did vacate the award against the owner’s husband on the basis that he only had tangential involvement with the business or the decision to terminate the driver’s employment... This case cautions motor and other carriers that their corporate status will not protect owners and managers from personal liability for safety-related whistleblower retaliation claim... 
Sausalito, CAL, USA - JDSupra/Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, by Jonathan Crotty, Michel Vanesse - 11 Oct 2016

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Jan 26, 2016

TRUCKERS' MISCLASSIFICATION * USA - Sued: Three subsidiary companies of XPO Logistics Inc.

* Connecticut - Truck drivers suing XPO Subsidiaries for misclassification. Claim that they should be treated as employees, not contractors

-- Three subsidiary companies of XPO Logistics Inc. are being sued for misclassification of workers as independent contractors, the Wall Street Journal has reported... The three trucking businesses in question are Pacer Cartage Inc., PDS Transportation Inc. and Harbor Rental Transport. These companies are drayage operators, which involves transporting cargo to and from ports and nearby warehouses... According to the WSJ, the allegations brought against the subsidiaries include refusing to properly compensate the employees, failing to give them breaks, and neglecting reimbursement for business-related costs... XPO has denied the legal merits of the claims... 
(Photo) -- Park Greenwich, CT, USA - Global Logistics, by Peter Buxbaum - January 25th, 2016

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May 21, 2015

SUIT AGAINST TWO CHINESE TRUCKMAKERS Cos. * USA: For stealing truck designs

* Virginia - Liebherr drops lawsuit accusing Newport News workers, Chinese of stealing truck designs

-- Liebherr drops — for now — lawsuit accusing workers, Chinese of stealing truck designs... Liebherr USA has dropped — at least for now — most of a major lawsuit accusing former workers at its Newport News manufacturing plant of conspiring with Chinese companies and others to rip off Liebherr truck designs...  Liebherr mining trucks stand 29 feet tall and have a carrying capacity of 400 tons. That dwarfs a normal dump truck, which stands about 10 feet tall and has a 40-ton payload, or only a tenth the capacity of the Liebherr trucks... In the 2010 lawsuit, Liebherr Mining & Construction Equipment accused six former workers at the Newport News factory of conspiring to steal thousands of sensitive documents from the plant... Liebherr's suit also accused a Detroit engineering firm, Detroit Heavy Truck Engineering, of serving as a conduit to Chinese companies, and two Chinese manufacturing partnerships, accusing them of imitating a Liebherr diesel truck with a 400-ton payload... If the theft isn't reversed, Liebherr contends, "American manufacturing jobs will be lost" to companies that have ripped off technology and processes that took decades and millions of dollars to develop... All six workers — as well as the Detroit firm and the Chinese companies — have denied the allegations against them. The original defendant worker died about a year ago... 
(Photos courtesy of Liebherr - Liebherr Mining & Construction Equipment alleges that several former employees of its Newport News production plant stole thousands of design documents used to make huge mining trucks -- then turned the documents over for copycat truck production in China. Liebherr's model is seen at right, the Chinese-built version at left)  --  Newport News, VA, USA - Daily Press, by Peter Dujardin - 28 March 2015

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Jun 19, 2014

ANTITRUST SUIT * USA: Eaton's

* New York - Eaton faces over $2 billion in damages in court battle 
(Photo from Associated Press: Eaton has maintained as much as 80% of the North American market for heavy-duty truck transmissions) 
NY,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by BOB TITA -June 18, 2014: -- After losing a prolonged court battle, Eaton Corp. faces up to $2.4 billion in damages for squeezing rivals out of the truck-transmission market by rewarding commercial truck makers with generous rebates for using its own transmissions... The payout could prompt companies to review standard marketing tools like discounts and rebates programs... Auto-parts companies Meritor Inc. of Michigan and Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen, which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Eaton in 2006, are seeking between $475 million and $800 million in lost profits and lost business opportunities. A jury ruled in their favor in 2009 and Eaton lost a subsequent appeal, leaving only damages to be determined at a trial scheduled to begin June 23. Since damages are tripled in antitrust cases, the payout range could swell to $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion, according to analysts...

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Nov 6, 2012

CAR'S SPYES STORY * USA

* DC - Feds: Couple stole GM trade secrets. Trial begins for wife, husband who say it's a misunderstanding 

Washington,DC,USA -Bloomberg News/The Detroit News, by Margaret Cronin Fisk and Steve Raphael -November 6, 2012: -- A former General Motors Co. engineer and her husband stole trade secrets of the automaker's related to hybrid-car technology to help develop such vehicles in China, a U.S. prosecutor said at the beginning of their trial... Shanshan Du, the ex-GM employee, copied the Detroit-based company's private information on the motor control of hybrids and provided documents to her husband, Yu Qin, the government alleges. Qin used the confidential data to seek business ventures or employment with GM's competitors, including the Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co., the U.S. said... General Motors contends the stolen trade secrets are worth more than $40 million, prosecutors said...

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Mar 15, 2011

CSA DATA * USA - Carrier group, FMCSA settle suit over public CSA data

Washington,DC,USA -Today's Trucking –10 March 2011: -- A small group of small truckers has settled its suit with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over carrier information made public under CSA...  In exchange for dropping the suit -- brought on by the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, the Expedite Alliance of North America and the Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Association, which represent about 2,700 small carriers --  FMCSA agreed to change how it publishes carrier scores...  Starting March 25, FMCSA will replace the orange "ALERT" symbol on its website with an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle. As well, there will be an explanation that the symbol does not imply a specific safety rating...  The carrier groups were concerned that the language and presentation on the website could imply that carriers with 'alerts' as unsafe, which could be used by opportunistic plaintiffs' attorneys to brand a company negatively...  The carriers had attempted to block the FMCSA from releasing carrier safety data before CSA was launched in December, but that challenge was quashed by a federal court, giving the agency the green light to proceed...  CSA is now underway and the FMCSA has already begun sending out intervention letters to carriers who exceed at least one safety category threshold... (Photo from cpatrucking: FMCSA inspector)

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Nov 10, 2008

Suit * USA - Trucking Firm Says AG’s Is Teamster Driven

Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Cunningham Report -8 Nov 2008: -- Pac Anchor Transportation - a Long Beach-based drayage company accused by California Attorney General Jerry Brown of misclassifying employees as independent contractors - filed its answer in Superior Court on Wednesday. The company claims that the Attorney General was motivated by "political gain" in an effort to force Pac Anchor to hire employees instead of contracting with owner-operators... Pac Anchor was one of five harbor-area trucking companies and individuals targeted by Brown in a series of lawsuits accusing the companies of misclassifying employees in order to gain a competitive advantage and to cheat the state out of payroll taxes... The company said Brown filed the suit in an attempt to force the company to use employee-drivers "so that the Teamsters (to whom the Attorney General is beholden) can unionize the newly transformed employees and transform them into Teamsters...

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Oct 12, 2007

SUIT * USA - Mack Trucks named in St. Clair County breach

Edwardsville,IL,USA -The Madison County Record, by Ann Knef -11 Oct 2007: -- Beelman Truck Co. and Transportation, Inc. have filed a breach of contract suit against Mack Trucks, Inc. in St. Clair County Circuit Court... The plaintiffs claim Mack Trucks failed to properly repair or replace defective parts of trucks it supplied in accordance with a written agreement. The suit claims the trucks experienced frequent breakdowns due to defective parts, including including turbochargers and cross-members... The plaintiffs claim the agreements included a warranty on all trucks which provided for the repair and replacement of any defective parts... According to the suit filed Oct. 1, Mack supplied trucks of varying model years and would buy them back after four years. Beelman and Transportation claim they are entitled to recover lost revenue due to truck breakdowns, towing expenses and decreased resale value of the trucks...

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May 18, 2007

Wal-Mart’s “corporate culture” * USA - It's going to cost the company a fortune.

USA - The Writing on the Wal, by Jonathan Rees -17 May 2007: -- The big Wally World news today is that a judge in Arkansas has certified a class action suit by African American truck drivers... Being a trucker is a hard, but high-skilled and relatively good paying job (at least compared to entry-level associate). No matter how diverse its workforce is, Wal-Mart can still be liable if the job ladder for people who aren’t white and male only has a couple of rungs...

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May 2, 2007

Class Action Suits * USA - Movers settle they with OOIDA, drivers who leased on

Chicago,Ill,USA -The Trucker -May 1, 2007: -- Moving company parent corporation SIRVA Inc. said today that it has reached a settlement in a pair of class action lawsuits filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Inc. (OOIDA) and some owner-operators. The suit alleged violations by Allied Van Lines Inc. and North American Van Lines Inc. of federal Truth in Leasing regulations. The agreement also includes SIRVA and its subsidiary, Global Van Lines Inc.... “We are very pleased to have brought this issue to closure and strongly feel this settlement to be in the best interests of our company and our network of branded agents,” said Michael McMahon, SIRVA’s President, Moving Services North America, in the statement. “We believe that the new independent contractor operating agreement will be a benefit to our agent’s owner-operators and to the entire SIRVA network. Additionally, it will enhance our ability to recruit and retain quality drivers”... SIRVA operates in more than 40 countries with more than 4,000 employees and a network of agents and service providers. Company brands include Allied, Allied International, Allied Pickfords, Allied Special Products, DJK Residential, Global, northAmerican, northAmerican International, Pickfords, SIRVA Mortgage, SIRVA Relocation and SIRVA Settlement...

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