L.A. judge's ruling halts parts of port concession plans
The ruling came after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District “unanimously ruled in favor of ATA on March 20 and remanded the case to the U.S. District Court, indicating that the judge should grant ATA an injunction against all or part of the concession plans,” ATA stated in a prior news release.
The Trucker Staff
4/30/2009
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge today temporarily halted several requirements of concession plans at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, including a mandate for independent drivers to become employees of trucking companies.
U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder issued her final decision two days after making a tentative ruling.
A spokesman for the American Trucking Associations said the group is happy with the judge's ruling. The ATA has argued that the ports cannot require companies to hire drivers as direct employees because it would stop independent truckers — the majority of whom haul cargo in and out of the ports — from working the harbor.
"There's no good reason to kill off the independent trucker except to allow the Teamsters to cut down the number of trucking companies working the ports so they can unionize the drivers more easily," ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce said in an earlier statement. "If you want to clean up the port, then ban older trucks that are causing the emissions, not independent owner-operators."
The ruling came after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District “unanimously ruled in favor of ATA on March 20 and remanded the case to the U.S. District Court, indicating that the judge should grant ATA an injunction against all or part of the concession plans,” ATA stated in a prior news release.
Further, “The Court of Appeals’ decision made very clear that ATA never opposed any of the environmental goals of the ports’ clean trucks plan, just components that illegally regulated the drayage industry at the ports,” said Robert Digges Jr., ATA vice president and chief counsel.
ATA said that it “has always supported the retirement of older dirty diesel trucks from the ports … . Enjoining these concession plans will not affect the goals of the clean trucks program.”
The trial is scheduled to begin in December.
“We are pleased that the heart of the clean truck program is in place and we’re moving full steam ahead with removing dirty diesel trucks from our communities and harmful pollutants from our air,” L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a news release from the L.A. Port in response to the ruling. “We look forward to our day in court where we will show the overwhelming success of the entire program and why it is needed to ensure long-term success.”
Associated Press sources contributed to this report.
The Trucker staff may be reached to comment at editor@thetrucker.com.