Category: Transportation

As discussed on this blog, late last year the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) determined that California’s Meal and Rest Break rules are pre-empted by federal law, as applied to property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers covered by the FMCSA’s Hours of Service regulations. Less than five months later, the implications of this are being…

In a recent Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) decision, the United States Supreme Court unanimously made getting to arbitration more difficult for trucking companies. In Oliveira v. New Prime, the Supreme Court determined that it was for a court, not an arbitrator, to decide if the exemption in Section 1 of the FAA applies. More importantly for…

As discussed previously on this blog, the Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court decision upended California’s independent contractor market with a new test for whether a worker will be considered an employee. The new test was particularly problematic for the trucking industry. As such, several cases have arisen to challenge the Dynamex decision. The Western States Trucking Association (WTSA) challenged…

Manbang, China’s “Uber-for-Trucks” is securing funds to support expansion of its driverless program, and the company has already invested in a Silicon Valley driverless truck start-up. While the company is still establishing itself in China, it’s success or failure could be a signal for similar companies in the United States. We’ve already seen ride-sharing and delivery-based…

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed SB 1402, which quickly has shippers, particularly larger retailers, facing new levels of potential liability. The bill means retailers will now be held jointly liable when the trucking companies they hire for port drayage services violate state employment laws. The law comes at a time with ongoing claims by truck…

Backed by many in the trucking industry, the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to implement new limits on commercial truck emissions. The new limits appear to be in response to California pushing ahead with laws of its own. While the State of California also favors nationwide rules, the trucking industry appears to back the move by the…

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court upended the state’s independent contractor market with its decision in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court. The Court’s ruling changed the way court’s will determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The case discards the decades-old test established in S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc.…

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court upended the state’s independent contractor market with its decision in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court. The Court’s ruling changed the way the law will determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The case discards the decades-old test of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc.…

Here’s a candidate for one of the less glitzy and front-page-laden areas of law in California (something like celebrity divorce might come to mind for some of our readers seeking to conjure up a quick example of legal-based news that routinely scores as a media headline): transportation law. That particular legal realm is decidedly not…

Larson & Gaston recently won a major transportation law defense victory on behalf of one of its motor carrier clients.  Four of the carrier’s owner-operators filed claims with California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), claiming to be employees of the motor carrier rather than independent contractors. This is a common accusation in the ongoing wave…

AB 621 (Amnesty for Converting Independent Contractor Drayage Drivers to Employees) AB 621 establishes a new section of the Labor Code that allows a motor carrier performing drayage services to be relieved of liability for statutory or civil penalties associated with misclassification of commercial drivers as independent contractors if the motor carrier enters into a…

With the recent announcement that the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have reached a tentative agreement to the on-going labor dispute on the West Coast, the issue becomes how to clear the tremendous backlog of containers in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Estimates are that…

Every year trucking companies in Southern California routinely pay thousands even tens of thousands of dollars in “per diem” charges to equipment providers in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.  These charges accrue on a daily basis for late returns of empty containers.  Since the Fall of 2014, however, the frequency and amount…