False statements, aiding and abetting

On June 2 Surinder S. Nijjar, owner and president of Nijjar Brothers Trucking Inc. (Nijjar Brothers), Madera, Calif., was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Fresno, Calif., to serve 12 months in prison and 36 months supervised probation and fined $5,000 for false statements, aiding and abetting. Amritpal Singh, co-owner of Nijjar Brothers, was sentenced to 12 months probation and fined $5,000 for the same offenses.

By JIM C. KLEPPER
ITJ

9/15/2008

Imagine you own a trucking company and want to show your wife how much you love her by buying her a new BMW. Imagine you are having a terrible time paying for fuel when the price jumps a couple of cents every day and you need just a little extra income. On the other hand, maybe you are just greedy and want to make more money? To satisfy your need, you ask and then require your drivers to falsify their logbooks so they can run longer than allowed.

So far so good, and now a problem appears in the form of the friendly DOT officer knocking on your door. The DOT is in the process of doing an audit when word comes to the officer that one of your drivers has been involved in a fatal accident. Yes, of course the DOT is very interested in what caused the fatality and since they are there, they will soon discover what you have been hiding.

Nijjar Brothers Trucking routinely encouraged its drivers to falsify logbooks according to the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT/OIG). The same day the DOT/OIG agents executed the first of two search warrants on Nijjar Brothers, one of the company’s drivers had caused a four-vehicle collision, killing a father and his 13-year-old son and seriously injuring his 17-year-old son. The driver had been driving for at least 19 hours; he was subsequently convicted and sentenced for falsifying logbook entries and served time in jail.

As part of the sentencing agreement, the two owners are also required to inactivate their DOT numbers, dissolve the companies, not have any ownership or interest in a trucking company during the periods of their probations, and each pay a fine of $50,000 to the U.S. Treasury on behalf of their companies.

The Office of Inspector General works within the DOT to promote effectiveness and head off, or stop waste, fraud and abuse in departmental programs. They accomplish this through audits and investigations. OIG also consults with Congress about programs in progress and proposed new laws and regulations.

The Inspector General Act of 1978 gives the OIG autonomy to do its work without interference. The inspector general is chosen by the president and is subject to Senate confirmation. Only the president has the power to remove an inspector general before the IG's regular term of office ends, and the reasons for doing so must be communicated to Congress.

The Inspector General Act of 1978 also prevents officials in the scrutinized agency from interfering with audits or investigations; it also requires the IG to keep the secretary of transportation and Congress informed of findings. However, much of OIG's most significant work is accomplished with the cooperation of the officials whose programs are being reviewed.

In the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), falsification along with aiding or abetting by anyone to falsify an official document is covered by §390.11 Motor carrier to require observance of driver regulations.

Whenever … a duty is prescribed for a driver or a prohibition is imposed upon the driver, it shall be the duty of the motor carrier to require observance of such duty or prohibition. If the motor carrier is a driver, the driver shall likewise be bound.

§390.13 Aiding or abetting violations.

No person shall aid, abet, encourage, or require a motor carrier or its employees to violate the rules of this chapter.

§390.35 Certificates, reports, and records: falsification, reproduction, or alteration.

No motor carrier, its agents, officers, representatives, or employees shall make or cause to make:

(a) A fraudulent or intentionally false statement on any application, certificate, report, or record required by Part 325 of subchapter A or this subchapter

(b) A fraudulent or intentionally false entry on any application, certificate, report, or record required to be used, completed, or retained, to comply with any requirement of this subchapter or Part 325 of Subchapter A, or

(c) A reproduction, for fraudulent purposes, of any application, certificate, report, or record required by this subchapter or Part 325 of Subchapter A.

The DOT/OIG determined the Nijjar Brothers Trucking Company routinely encouraged its drivers to falsify logbooks and wasted no time in charging the president with false statements, aiding and abetting, convicted him and sent him to jail.

Please follow the rules and the laws and do not allow anyone to force or require you to falsify any document. Technology is growing fast and it allows the government to search and find instances of falsification by checking and cross checking all documents a trucking company is required to keep for audits. The DOT will only get better and faster at their job, and when they do find companies or drivers falsifying documents they no longer just want a fine. Now, they want the convicted offender to go to jail. Jail is how DOT will stop the falsification and trust me, it will work. If every driver follows the rules and regulations, then no driver is at a disadvantage and everyone can drive legal and safe.

Listen to Attorney Jim C. Klepper discuss trucking legal issues every Tuesday morning at 7:00 Central Time on Sirius Radio Channel 147. Join Host Mark Willis as drivers call in with legal questions. You can be part of that live question and answer program by calling (888) 782-5966.

Jim C. Klepper is president of Interstate Trucker Ltd., a law firm entirely dedicated to legal defense of the nation's commercial drivers. Interstate Trucker represents truck drivers throughout the 48 states on both moving and non-moving violations. He is also president of Drivers Legal Plan, which allows member drivers access to his firm’s services at greatly discounted rates. Jim, a former prosecutor, is also a registered pharmacist, with considerable experience in alcohol and drug related cases. He is a lawyer that has focused on transportation law and the trucking industry in particular. He works to answer your legal questions about trucking and life over-the-road and has his Commercial Drivers License.

(800) 333-DRIVE (3748) or www.interstatetrucker.com and www.driverslegalplan.com.