Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, June 24, 2021:
AB 5 injunction to remain in place as case elevates to Supreme Court
With the California Trucking Association planning to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court to have the case reviewed by the nation’s highest court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a motion to temporarily keep the preliminary injunction in place that exempted the trucking industry from the law.
That same court on Monday denied CTA’s request for a rehearing of the case after ruling in April that AB 5’s ABC test for determining independent contractor status in California should apply to the trucking industry, essentially banning the leased owner-operator model in the state.
In its motion to grant the stay of the injunction, the Ninth Circuit says the injunction will remain in place pending the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to hear the case. If SCOTUS chooses to hear the case, the injunction will be stayed until the Supreme Court’s disposition of the case. If SCOTUS declines to hear the case, the injunction will be lifted immediately.
Embark going public in $5.2 billion deal, Chao joins Board
Embark Trucks, an autonomous trucking software development firm, will go public with a nearly $5.2 billion market capitalization value after reaching an agreement with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II.
In addition to the acquisition agreement, Embark also announced that former Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has joined the company’s Board of Directors.
Embark, through its Partner Development Program, is currently working with shippers and carriers including Anheuser-Busch InBev, HP Inc., Werner Enterprises, Mesilla Valley Transportation, and Bison Transport, to help prepare their fleets to integrate self-driving technology and scale with Embark’s technology. Embark has logged more than one million real-world miles without a DOT-reportable incident using its technology.
