The Chartwell Chronicles: Trucking
The Increasing Visibility of Driver Health
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
On February 1, 2023, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) restarted the process it began in 2017, requesting comments from stakeholders in a supplemental advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (SANPRM)...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), an agency of the Department of Transportation (DOT), today published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) (FMCSA–2022–0028), that would maintain...more
In a regulatory victory, interstate household goods movers recently saw the universe of required paperwork reduce by one key document. In 2017, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) convened a Federal...more
On June 10, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) issued a notice and request for comments in Docket No. 2022-134 to assist the agency in issuing guidance by November 15, 2022, in response to the...more
When lawsuits occur in the trucking industry, the potential for “nuclear verdicts” – verdicts where a jury award exceeds $10 million – is enormous. According to the most recent research on the matter from the American...more
Tractor trailers and other large commercial vehicles travel the highways and our local roads daily to deliver consumer goods around the country. With so many trucks, including 18-wheelers, semis, flatbeds, dump trucks, and...more
The possibility of a shipper being found liable to a third party who is injured by allegedly improperly loaded freight is an evolving one. Historically, the onus of responsibility, and liability, for loading freight has been...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) determination that federal law preempts California’s meal and rest break requirements as to drivers of...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) historically has been less prone to large shifts in policy between presidential administrations. Although President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden each nominated a...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently requested public comments on petitions for rulemaking backed by owner-operator/small-fleet groups to address the transparency of brokerage rates. The petitions...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an order this week that Washington State’s meal and rest break rules are preempted as applied to property-carrying commercial...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has called a public listening session for Wednesday, October 28, 2020, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM EDT. Advanced registration is required at www.fmcsa.dot.gov. This is a...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requested public comments on petitions for rulemaking backed by owner-operator/small-fleet groups to address the transparency of broker rates. The notice is in response...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on March 13, 2020, that, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, exemptions for some regulations were warranted for certain motor...more
Executive Summary: On June 5, 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted a waiver (effective from June 5, 2020 to September 30, 2020) from certain pre-employment testing requirements applicable to...more
On March 24, in response to COVID-19's impact on state driver licensing agencies, medical examiners, and the operators of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a...more
Following the president's declaration of a national emergency related to the COVID-19 outbreaks, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued its first nationwide Emergency Declaration. Typically issued on a...more
In an effort to address critical transportation needs associated with the COVID-19 emergency, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an emergency declaration on March 13, 2020 suspending multiple...more
On March 13, 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) announced and issued a national emergency declaration (Emergency Declaration) establishing...more
In 2016, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced final regulations revising mandatory training requirements for entry-level commercial motor vehicle operators who are required to possess a commercial...more
Employers of drivers who hold commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) have been subject to U.S. Department of Transportation drug and alcohol testing requirements for over twenty-five years....more
Report on Supply Chain Compliance 2, no. 21 (November 7, 2019) - The deadline for compliance with a rule requiring truck drivers to use an electronic logging device (ELD) is Dec. 16, 2019. An ELD records information, which...more
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a long-overdue increase in commercial truck insurance requirements, bringing the minimum liability limit up from $750,000 to nearly $5 million....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently rolled out Our Roads, Our Safety, a national safety campaign to raise awareness about sharing the road safely with large trucks and buses....more