A ruling ordering
the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
to pay attorney fees for Springfield-based Prime Inc.
has been overturned.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
unanimously overturned a lower court ruling that
would have required the trade organization based
in Grain Valley to pay more than $500,000 in attorney
fees.
"We as a company are disappointed with the decision, but we accept it," said
Steve Crawford, legal counsel for Prime Inc. "This was not a case about fees.
... It is really just a peripheral aspect of the underlying case, which the defendants
lost."
In a news release, the association's general counsel,
Paul D. Cullen Sr., called the Eighth Circuit's
ruling "a major victory for owner-operators."
The case stems from a suit originally filed in 1997
by the association and two individual drivers, who
accused Prime of violating truth-in-leasing regulations
through unauthorized deductions and by retaining
leased owner-operators' escrow funds.
The case made its way through various courts, facing
jurisdiction battles, until it was dismissed
in 2003.
In August 2003 a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Eighth Circuit ruled that owner-operators
who signed leases before Jan. 1, 1996, could not
pursue their claims against Prime under the federal
truth-in-leasing regulations.
Then in January 2004, U.S. District Judge Dean
Whipple ruled that the association had to pay
Prime $559,718 in attorney's fees, which it had
incurred because of the original case.
The association appealed the decision.
Todd Spencer, the association's executive vice president,
said justice was at stake in the case: If the previous
ruling was to set a precedent, he contended, then
individuals could be bullied by large corporations.
"If the only recourse you have is through the courts,
and the only thing you can benefit from by going
to the court is getting money you are entitled to,
and you face the risk ... that you can be on the
hook for all the attorney fees the other side can
generate, no individual would ever see any justice
in any court in the land because they could simply
bankrupt you," Spencer said.
Prime felt it was entitled to the money, Crawford said.
And to call the recent ruling a victory is a "little
misleading," Crawford said, because the courts dismissed
the original suit.
Copyright © 2005, The
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