Final Briefs Filed in Clean-Truck Case

The American Trucking Associations and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach filed the last of their legal arguments over clean-truck concession programs at the ports, leaving it up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to determine if the concession programs should be blocked in their entirety.

The briefs were filed after an appeal the ATA filed in June in which it charged that U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder did not go far enough when she enjoined only certain portions of the port’s concession requirements for motor carriers.

Under the ports' clean-truck programs, motor carriers must sign concession agreements containing a number of operational requirements in order to be licensed to carry containers to and from marine terminals.

ATA sued the ports, charging that the concession requirements violate the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act which reserves for the federal government the authority to regulate motor carriers' rates, routes and services.

Judge Snyder in April issued a preliminary injunction on certain provisions of the concession agreements, such as a requirement for the off-street parking of rigs and a requirement in the Los Angeles concession that motor carriers hire drivers as direct employees.

The employee-driver mandate is supported by the Teamsters union, which is attempting to organize the owner-operator drivers in the harbor. Unions by law can not organize independent contractors although they are free to organize companies with employees.

In her ruling, Judge Snyder allowed other concession requirements to remain in effect, especially those that she said could be justified under reasons of port security and motor carrier safety.

ATA in June challenged the remaining concession requirements as unnecessary and illegal and asked for a preliminary injunction against the concessions. ATA argues that there are sufficient regulations enforced by the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the Federal Highway Safety Administration and the California Department of Transportation covering port security and motor carrier safety, and the ports' "me too" requirements are not necessary.

Curtis Whalen, executive director of ATA's intermodal conference, said the ports' remaining concession requirements place an undue burden on motor carriers and attempt to re-regulate trucking, an industry that Congress deregulated in 1980. The concession agreements should therefore be enjoined in their entirety, Whalen stated. Although it is not under a specific timetable, the 9th Circuit could issue a ruling in the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, Judge Snyder has pushed back to Feb. 2, 2010, the trial of the ATA's case on its merits. That case involving ATA's request for a permanent injunction was originally scheduled for December 2009.

Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com.