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Contact: Paul Cullen, Sr., Dan Cohen, or Joseph A. Black,
(202) 944-8600
September 3, 2008, Washington, D.C. – On September
3, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
in Atlanta, Georgia issued a landmark ruling upholding the rights
of owner-operators to obtain comprehensive disclosure from carriers
regarding compensation and chargebacks in an action that was brought
by the The Cullen Law Firm, PLLC, against Landstar Systems, Inc.
under the federal Truth-in-Leasing Regulations.
At issue in the case are undisclosed mark-ups on chargebacks and
revenue reductions that Landstar made against its owner-operators’ pay.
The owner-operators – represented by The Cullen Law Firm – claimed
that federal leasing regulations require motor carriers such as Landstar
to disclose all such charges and reductions, and provide documentation
about how such charges and reductions are computed. To read
the Court’s ruling, click here. Specifically,
the ruling states that carriers are not in compliance with the federal
regulations if their leases with owner-operators do not provide computation
of how chargebacks are calculated and the documentation necessary
to verify the validity of those calculations. The ruling also
upheld the owner-operators’ claims that Landstar did not comply
with the regulatory requirement that deductions from their compensation
be clearly stated on the face of the lease.
Notably, the Court of Appeals ruled that carriers must literally,
i.e., strictly, comply with the requirements of the regulations,
and that the lower court committed error by failing to order injunctive
relief. The Court of Appeals has remanded the case to the lower court
for further proceedings regarding additional remedial relief.
The Cullen Law Firm hails the Court of Appeals’ decision as
an historical milestone in advancing the rights of truckers
to obtain complete, transparent and truthful disclosures from carriers
regarding how their compensation – and deductions from that
compensation – are calculated. The decision, coming from
one of the highest courts in the country short of the Supreme Court,
unconditionally endorses the standards the Firm and the Owner Operator
Independent Drivers Association have advocated in this and many other
cases on behalf of OOIDA’s members. The Court’s ruling
sends out a clear message to all carriers that they must strictly
comply with the regulations, or they will be subject to liability
for any violations.
OOIDA originally filed the case against Landstar and its operating
companies in November of 2002.
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