Broker will not pay load because the contract was made under "Duress"

Hello everyone,

I have been on the truckers report since my colleges days and now that I work at a trucking company have a question to ask other owner operators/fleet owners. We were contracted to do a load on 4/14/15 from Union city CA, to Auburn WA for 1600 dollars by a broker (name withheld.) On 4/15/15 (the next day), the load was cancelled and the broker told the driver to take the load back to Union City, CA. The driver (who happened to be a sub hauler) was hesitant to take the load back and wanted to place the load in a cold storage as he was scheduled to pickup another load 4/16/15 in Oregon. The broker sent a rate sheet for 3200 dollars and the driver redelivered the load. The broker is now stating: "At which in time we were told the load would be dumped into a cold storage if we did not pay $3200 to have the product returned, violating sections 8, 11 & 12 of our agreement. Given the circumstances in order to protect ourselves and our customer from loss as stated in section 8 of our agreement a confirmation was sent under duress for the additional money being demanded."

Simply put, the broker is now stating they will only pay for the $1520 for the miles traveled from Union City, to the where the broker told the driver the load was cancelled, back to Union City. I have read the brokers contract and it only state: "carrier shall not withhold any goods of the customer on account of any dispute as to rate or any alleged failure of broker to pay charges incurred under this agreement." From my understanding, if the load was being withheld, this part of the contract would hold, however because our sub hauler just wanted to leave it at a cold storage, the contract has no merit in this situation. Furthermore, since the original contract expired ($1600 from Union city to Auburn WA), the sub hauler could do what he pleased with the load until a new contract was made. I have tried to settle for something reasonable as the sub hauler had to drive back to Oregon for the load he contracted to haul but only offered peanuts. Do you think if I file a claim with there surety bond or take this to court, will I get $3200 for my sub hauler? He is a hard working guy and don't want him to be taken advantage by this broker. If any of you have any experience with this issue, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

gokiddogo, this is not he first time this broker has pulled this stunt on us but because there was an actual contract that was written up this time, I decided to stand up for all the owner operators out there who have been lied to by Coastal Carriers out of Troy, MO.

 

I will try to file against his bond and will post what happens...