Appeals court rules against California ports

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has sided with the American Trucking Assns. (ATA) in its lawsuit against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, recommending that the District Court judge grant ATA an injunction against all or part of the ports’ Concession Plans.

According to the court, one of the provisions of the program that will probably be overturned is the Port of Los Angeles’ “disruptive” concession agreement, which “is likely to cause the most harm regardless of which choice a motor carrier makes.” Under the plan, carriers could either sign the agreement and suffer economic damage by being forced to buy new vehicles, or not sign and leave the port.

In addition, Los Angeles’ independent contractor phase-out provision, which will ban owner-operators from the port, is also likely to be overturned, the court said. The port contended that owner-operators presented “serious and longstanding safety problems” while using company drivers enabled giving “control to the concessionaires as employers of their employee drivers to a degree not possible with casual or independent drivers.”  Long Beach’s Concession plan does not have an owner-operator provision....




Source: http://fleetowner.com/trucking_regulations/california-ports-concession-plans-0323/index1.html