June 16, 2004, Grain Valley, MO – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is supporting one of its owner-operator members in a demand for class arbitration against FFE Transportation Services Inc.

On June 15, 2004, OOIDA member Levi Thornberry filed the demand for class arbitration against the Dallas, TX-based carrier for alleged violations of the truth-in-leasing regulations.

The demand alleges several violations of the regulations, including failure to compensate owner-operators according to the lease agreement; undisclosed, undocumented and excessive chargebacks; and the forced purchase of insurance and other goods and services from FFE. OOIDA will support Mr. Thornberry's efforts in this arbitration because of the potentially beneficial impact on all owner-operators who leased equipment and services to FFE between June 2000 and the present. 

The case marks the first time the country’s largest trade organization for professional truckers has recommended the use of the arbitration system for resolving a dispute involving a motor carrier’s alleged violations of the federal leasing regulations. Until now, OOIDA has sought relief on behalf of its members through class-action lawsuits primarily in federal court, utilizing the owner-operator’s “private right of action” to sue carriers directly.

Owner-operator lease agreements with FFE Transportation contain arbitration clauses requiring that any dispute arising out of or relating to the lease agreement be resolved by arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association.  In the past, large motor carriers, knowing that individual claims by owner-operators are too expensive for owner-operators to litigate or arbitrate, have used such arbitration clauses in lease agreements as an attempt to avoid class-action lawsuits. 

Last year, however, in resolving a split among the circuit courts of appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that arbitrators have the authority to certify classes.  Following that ruling, the American Arbitration Association established procedural rules for bringing class arbitrations.  Mr. Thornberry's demand for arbitration seeks to take advantage of these new classwide arbitration rules.

OOIDA President Jim Johnston said that the recommendation to pursue the complaint against FFE through classwide arbitration in no way signaled a softening of OOIDA’s reliance on the federal court system to prosecute carriers who violate the federal truth-in-leasing regulations.

“We feel these new developments within the arbitration mechanism may now give owner-operators another alternative to seek relief for their claims against unscrupulous carriers. In fact, classwide arbitration has the potential to allow a greater number of these disputes to be addressed, more quickly and with lower costs than the court system allows,” Johnston said.

Arbitration resolves disputes between parties to a contract and requires that the dispute be submitted to an impartial person or persons, well versed in the subject matter of the dispute, for final and binding determination.

Contact:  Michael Schermoly, OOIDA  (816) 229-5791

Founded in 1973, the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is composed of more than 110,000 owner-operators, professional drivers, and small business truckers from all 50 states, and Canada.  OOIDA represents the interests of this nation's more than 350,000 small-business trucking professionals in the legislative and regulatory processes at both federal and state levels.