Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, April 6, 2021:
Another Calif. court opinion goes in favor of A.B. 5 applying to trucking
While the trucking industry’s larger case against California’s A.B. 5 law on motor carriers and owner-operators is still unfolding in a federal district court, a second state court in California has ruled that federal law does not preempt a law that would effectively outlaw the leased owner-operator model in the state.
Trucking has been operating under an exemption from A.B. 5 since the beginning of 2020, when the law went into effect. A lawsuit by the California Trucking Associations against the law is still in progress, and an injunction is in place until that lawsuit plays out.
A 1994 statute set by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A or FAAAA) says federal laws preempt any state-level laws that would “interfere with prices, routes and services” of motor carriers. That’s the statute that CTA and its attorneys are pressing the courts to uphold against A.B. 5 as it relates to trucking.
California’s Second District Court of Appeal last week, however, ruled to the contrary, saying the F4A provision does not preempt any state rules that apply the ABC test for independent contractors. In hearing a case involving truck drivers who sued drayage company East Coast Transport over alleged misclassification, the appeals court said previous court rulings, including one involving drayage carrier Cal Cartage at the end of 2020, led to this ruling that F4A does not preempt A.B. 5.
The outcome of CTA's case against A.B. 5 is still unknown, as the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decides to either uphold or end the preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in Southern California.
