Yesterday, Judge Denise Casper of the District of Massachusetts issued an industry friendly ruling in Massachusetts Delivery Association v. Healy, awarding summary judgment to the Massachusetts Delivery Association (“MDA”) and declaring that a portion of the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §148B (the “Massachusetts “ABC” Test”) is preempted by the Federal Aviation and Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (“FAAAA”). Previously, Judge Casper denied a motion by MDA, and allowed a motion by the Massachusetts Attorney General, ruling that Prong B of the Massachusetts “ABC” Test was not preempted for motor carriers under the FAAAA. MDA appealed that decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. In October of last year, the First Circuit reversed Judge Casper’s decision, ruling that the statute could affect a motor carrier’s prices, routes, or services, and sent the case back to Judge Casper for further consideration as to whether the Massachusetts statute satisfied the broad federal preemption test consistent with the First Circuit’s ruling.

The Massachusetts “ABC” Test provides that a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor if the employer can show that: (A) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and (B) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer, and (C) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. Judge Casper’s opinion focused on the effect of Prong B of the “ABC” Test on the prices, routes, and services of X Pressman Trucking & Courier, Inc. (“XPressman”), the member entity offered by MDA as an exemplar for purposes of the case.