The Chartwell Chronicles: Trucking
Case In Point: Recent Developments in Employment Law
This week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a slew of proposed rule changes—18 in all—designed to streamline operations, reduce unnecessary paperwork, and align regulations with modern...more
The numbers are frightening. In recent years, juries have routinely rendered outsized verdicts, a trend attributable in part to social inflation, public sentiment toward corporate defendants, and sophisticated litigation...more
Motor carriers, brokers, freight forwarders and private fleets that are required to comply with Colorado’s new Large Entity Reporting (“LER”) requirement, a relatively unpublicized new regulatory measure in the State of...more
The role of independent contractor owner-operators (“ICOOs”) in the trucking industry has a long history as a business model and also as a lightning rod for scrutiny. ...more
In January 2025, the Trump Administration will take office, and it is anticipated that President-Elect Donald J. Trump's second term will lead to significant regulatory changes generally. In his first term, President Trump...more
In a negligence action brought against transportation broker, Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (“Echo”), the District Court for the District of South Carolina held that Congress expressly preempted state laws related to brokers’...more
Motor carriers and private fleet operators need to weigh several critical factors when deciding where to register and plate their motor vehicles and equipment (trailers, flatbeds, tanker units, etc.). Selecting the right...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) on November 20, 2024,titled Transparency in Property Broker Transactions (89 FR 91648). ...more
Suffice it to say that the past year has been a very good year for brokers; in the courts, that is! While there have been several very favorable preemption decisions across the country, the preemption doctrine is not...more
For-hire and private motor carriers face unique compliance and operations challenges that many other business or company functions do not encounter. Operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) for your business, or as your...more
Accidents on the roadways are an unfortunate reality in the transportation business. Any carrier that has been in the business long enough, or that has reached a sizeable scale, experiences accidents despite a zealous...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that employers pay certain employees one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for any hours they work over 40 in a workweek. There are, however, several exemptions from the...more
On January 10, 2024 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule (29 CFR 795) revising the DOL’s guidance on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)....more
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck (Roadcheck) is scheduled for May 14-16, 2024. Roadcheck is an annual high-visibility, high-volume commercial motor vehicle inspection and regulatory...more
Transportation services providers are increasingly facing new technology-oriented threats in day-to-day business. Recent cyberattacks and the potential for serious disruption from threat actors have drawn the attention of the...more
As March Madness gets underway, a California federal judge has called a flagrant foul and ejected the trucking industry from its ongoing battle to challenge Assembly Bill No. 5 (“AB5”)....more
In Episode 27 of The Chartwell Chronicles, hosts Colin Davis and Brittany Atkinson are joined by special guest Garner Berry from our Ridgeland, MS office to discuss trucking claims. Colin, Brittany, and Garner cover a variety...more
New guidance from the Biden Administration mandates that freight forwarders are responsible for complying with trade sanctions and export compliance. On December 11, 2023, the Biden Administration released a 10-page sanctions...more
Beginning January 1, 2024, California intrastate motor carriers and drivers will be required to use an electronic logging device (“ELD”) as generally required by the federal ELD regulations adopted under 49 CFR § 395, Subpart...more
We regularly receive questions about motor carrier liability under the Carmack Amendment. This standard has been ubiquitous with interstate motor carriage since its enactment in 1906. Still, misunderstandings abound and can...more
Providers and commercial users of transportation services necessarily rely upon the predictability and uniformity afforded by national laws and regulations to support the efficient and reliable supply chains that are so...more
Reptile theory litigation tactics and commensurate nuclear verdicts have become a recurring problem for motor carriers, transportation brokers, and now, even shippers in high-stakes, catastrophic casualty litigation. There...more
In an important decision for freight brokers, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling in Ye v. GlobalTranz Enterprises, Inc., No. 22-1805 (7th Cir. July 18, 2023), which held that a plaintiff’s claim for...more
Federal regulators—as well as the marketplace itself—have been scrutinizing the role of certain types of “transportation intermediaries” in the industry. One point of focus has been the role of longstanding models such as...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on Jan. 5, 2023, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to implement financial security requirements on brokers and freight forwarders. The proposed changes to...more