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In January, Timothy L. Brooks, a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas, doubled down on his October 19th Memorandum Opinion in the case of Browne v. P.A.M. Transport, Inc., in which he stated that the Defendant, P.A.M Transport, Inc., was required to ensure all of its drivers were paid at least minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The Memorandum Opinion can be found here: https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/arkansas/arwdce/5:2016cv05366/50562/82/0.pdf?ts=1540016189. In affirming his October opinion, which focuses primarily on over-the-road… Read More

In a previous article, we updated you on New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira, a case that was argued before the United States Supreme Court on October 3, 2018. Generally, this case concerned how the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) applies to independent contractor agreements in the transportation industry. On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its opinion – a unanimous decision in favor of the transportation worker. To some, this decision comes as a bit of a surprise as… Read More

Until recently, California had rules essentially requiring that truck drivers take one 10 minute rest break every four hours, and one 30 minute meal break after every five hours of driving. Federal Law, however, required a 30 minute break after every eight hours of driving. The result was some confusion over which law applied in California, and arguably, whether both applied in California, possibly resulting in 90 minutes of break-time in a 10 hour period. American law recognizes a concept… Read More

Discovery serves an important role in litigation. The purpose of discovery is to clarify the issues between the parties, ascertain facts relative to those issues and obtain the fullest possible knowledge of the facts and issues before trial. Indeed, whether circumstances tend to lend credence to a favorable settlement or a trial, utilizing effective discovery techniques can generate valuable leverage in any case. Among the tools an attorney may employ in pursuit of facts are requests for admissions, written interrogatories,… Read More

"Never write if you can speak, never speak if you can nod, never nod if you can wink." —Attributed to the 19th century Boston political boss Martin Lomasney. The words of 19th-century Boston political boss Martin Lomasney have never rung truer than in today’s modern age of email communications. More than ever, the words we type in daily emails run the risk of eventually becoming available for public consumption. Beyond the embarrassment and bad press, lies the potential for such… Read More

Governor Northam announced at a press conference yesterday that he supports the plan to impose tolls on I-81 to fund $2.2 billion in improvements along the corridor. The legislation will be patroned by Senators Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham County) and Bill Carrico (R-Grayson County) and Delegates Steve Landes (R-Augusta County) and Terry Austin (R-Botetourt County). Click here to read the Governor’s press release. The press conference was short on details and the legislation is not yet available to determine exactly what… Read More

In the last election, Connecticut voters selected Democrat Ned Lamont to be their next governor. During the campaign, Lamont highlighted truck-only tolling as a way to raise needed revenue for the state. Recently, Lamont has reaffirmed his commitment to explore truck-only tolling in Connecticut. Lamont appears to be inspired by the neighboring state of Rhode Island, which only just began implementing its truck-only tolling program. The governor of Rhode Island, Gina Raimondo, is a champion of the truck-only tolling plan,… Read More

While nearly all motor carriers subject to the federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate have complied with the industry-shaking regulation, a large portion of these carriers have complied using automated onboard recording devices (AOBRDs). Specifically, the final rule mandating ELDs allowed for AORBDs to be grandfathered in and used for an additional two years after the mandate went into effect, despite these devices not technically qualifying as ELDs due to software limitations, information sharing capabilities, lack of connection to the… Read More