Mega-carrier C.R. England is upset with a judge’s ruling that will give class action status to a lawsuit being brought against it which could potentially include more than 14,000 members.
Drivers Charles Roberts and Kenneth McKay filed a lawsuit against C.R. England and their related company, Horizon Truck Sales and Leasing. The suit alleges that the companies are guilty of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, a breach of fiduciary duty, and other charges.
According to the lawsuit, students were told that if they were educated in C.R. England’s training program, they would be able to work for the carrier as a company driver, or even start a lease and become an owner-operator.
Unfortunately, once the training was completed and lease agreements were signed, some drivers claim that the opportunities disappeared. Positions driving for C.R. England were allegedly much harder to find than they were led to believe. This left new drivers unemployed and saddled with loads of debt.
Judge Robert J. Shelby for the District of Utah ruled on Tuesday that the case against C.R. England could proceed as a class action lawsuit, and stipulated that members of the class must meet four criteria.
1) Class members must have signed the Vehicle Leasing Agreement with Horizon
2) Class members must have signed the Independent Contractor Operating Agreement with C.R. England
3) Class members must have driven at least one day as an IC lease operator for C.R. England
4) All of the above must have been true during the applicable statute of limitations period.
Since the lawsuit was first filed in 2012, a statute of limitations of 6 years would stretch back to 2006.
According to Kravit, Hovel, and Krawczyk, the law firm representing the drivers, that could mean more than 14,708 drivers could qualify as class members.
It is important to note that the judge has not yet ruled on the case itself. The decision only states that the lawsuit has been approved for class action status.
C.R. England’s chief legal officer, T.J. England, voiced the company’s displeasure with the ruling.
“We vigorously dispute the allegations made in this case and disagree with the court’s decision to certify a class,” England said. “We intend to immediately appeal the decision and to continue to fight these unfounded claims as long as is necessary.”
You can review the full decision as well as selected case documents online here.
Source: overdrive, supplychaindive, americanshipper, kravitlaw, classaction
Very very bottom of the barrel — England. Never talked to one driver that had anything good to say about them.
I was one of those that got chopped and screwed by CR England in 2009. After going through there school then have you sign a lease because they they no longer have CO.positions…I was terminated and these guys keeped all my belongings…Truth be told this CO .is the worst of the worst nothing good has ever come from them.
Would it be called greed on CRAIGSLIST England. I’ve read about other companies with similar allegations, why is this happening? Is it just greed?
I don’t know why a company would even offer a LP program to a student driver, they don’t even know how to be a company driver much less know what it takes to be a LP driver. England is setting them up for failure right out of the gate. LP programs seldom ever have the best interest of the driver in mind and in most cases the time and effort it takes to make decent money is staggering. If you want to be an O/O you should get some experience as a company driver before taking on all of the extra responsibilities of being an O/O. I was a company driver for almost 10 years before starting a LP with Prime. I was very successful with it but at a cost of almost zero hometime, 3 leases later I took my money from the refunded maintenance escrow accounts and went and bought my 1st truck. That was 15 years ago and I’ve been an O/O ever since with my own authority now and have bought 3 trucks in that time frame. Don’t get involved in a LP program when dealerships are bending over backwards to sell used equipment, you’ll make more money in the long run financing it yourself than paying double the payment under a LP program.
LOL
the trucking industry has always been corrupt every since the early 1930s it was corrupt it was brought back then it’s corrupted a it’s nothing new
By the way , My Opinion, the worst deal out there is SELECTRUCKS, if you buy this deal you’re stuck with it to the bitter end. Never ever lease to purchase a truck, the idea is for you to get paid not pay for the job. Let companies pay their own bills.
Well said!
It is happening because the government took the industry away from the people who drive trucks, and gave it to people who drive bankrolls
Greed is greed doesn’t matter if its on craigslist or anywhere else. Why is it happening to England? Because some drivers finally stopped talking guff, about thier lawyer. Then actually went out and got one and filed a lawsuit. This and the other suit, are going to effect the whole industry.
Sorry. CR “use” to be, a class act. I’m talking back in 80’s into the 90’s. Very difficult company to get a position with, if your driving record was even a bit suspect. Start putting on all those trucks, company put in “other” family members control &, this is wat you get. A NEW KIND OF GREED!!!!
maybe if CR England treated drivers with a little respect, and STOPPED LYING to them, the circumstances would be different
Any brand new driver that gets talked into leasing a new truck from one of these carriers is an idiot. Ask one of the rookies what it costs to operate his new lease truck per mile and they have NO IDEA !! So they are out there making $1.00 a mile for example with no clue its costing them .90 cent a mile to operate !!! Why would anyone with a brain sign up for that !!
It’s the way they sell it, they tell them they can make $4000 to $6000 a week and they jump at it and read no further. I tell guys keep reading down to the Good stuff that says, WE DO NOT GUARANTEE YOU ANY FREIGHT, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOADING OR UNLOADING, ALL CHARGE BACKS WILL BE DEDUCTED WEEKLY, ALL drivers should never sign any contract without a guaranteed Freight contract and with a commercial business attorney present.
Because, like you said, they don’t know any better?
The trucking industry is really one of the worst paying job per hour the trucking industry has been corrupt since the 1930s always has been always will be this is not nothing new I’ve been through this is a child and nobody in my family ever drove a truck most of these guys drive trucks cuz they can’t do anything elsethey all want respect please you’re just a truck driver you’re not a goddamn superhero you hear the mailman ask for respect
I tried driving for them a while back. They said because I hadn’t driven in a couple years they’d put me with a trainer as a “refresher” and when I came out I could drive for them as a company driver, lease purchase and eventually become a trainer. I said I’d think about it… they blew up my phone night and day for weeks… it just felt shady so I passed. Glad I did.
And the walls come tumbling down. I pray this is just the beginning of draining of the swamp of these criminal companies and we all know which ones they are.
What about schneider
Glad to hear it! I hope it sets a precident and the flood gates open up for these predators! And they know who they are.
Prime, Swift, John Christner, TMC, Schneider, Werner, ACT, Trans Am, just to name a few! This lease purchase should be illegal! Hopefully now it will drive some of these predators out of business!!!
Amen !!!
Double Amen! I was with CRE for one year, and that was the absolute worst year of my life. Good luck to everyone involved with this lawsuit!
Sad to hear of this. However I guess ppl do change bc when I was a driver for CRE they would always converse with the employees. This was truly a great company w/ an open door policy. They had their stuff together with the best lease program in the industry. Guess things changed for the worse when the sons made their own company.
Let not forget if theses drivers ask OOIDA about these leases they would get the truth. I am part of OOIDA and a company driver. They are the only ones standing up for truckers.Any driver or student drive need information about trucking . Please feel free to contact me via email corbetthelenm62@gmail.com I can give you my member number for OOIDA and phone number so you can get the help you may need on leasing a truck.
Unfortunately, CRE has not lived up to that reputation. I can’t tell how many times we had to argue with them about our settlement being wrong. They would try double talking to convince us that they were right. Fortunately, my husband has a CPA certification and could argue and win. The company is so bad that in order to talk to anyone in the offices, you have to go through metal detectors like at the airport. That should tell you something. The good thing, they gave my husband a job when we really needed it and we bought our first truck through their lease program. However, when we wanted to buy it outright, we got our local bank to finance it.
I was a trainer with CRE for years. A student got mad because he thought I was watching and started old habits of some just snacking the shifter in gear after he had been trained to double clutching properly. His speed was fast enough, so I told him to take it out and select the proper gear for your speed and rim range.
He stopped the truck and quit.
I encouraged him not to quit under a load but at the ya in Laredo. The driver I left at the yard while I had to take my Mexican fiance to the doctor to check on being pregnant. By the time I got back the student had reported that I was drinking in Mexico and he was left at the terminal and was moved off my truck and we never saw each other since I left him at the terminal. I was fired while under a load without a trained observed required to report such incident, no drug or alcohol test ordered and they stepped me down off my truck after I drunk only non-alcohol beverages while away. I sued for my unemployment benefits and won and should have did a civil lawsuit for damages. They by DOT whom CRE and drivers are governed by are required to send you to rehabilitation if you submit to drinking not fire you.
Yes, you are right as long as they claim to be one of / the largest Reefer Company in the world you would think CRE would know the regulation that governs there business. I won my case against them but too many are intimidated but don’t.
CRE puts more into advertising their trucks and buying truck with bell and whistles to driver the truck from the off; instead of putting APU’s on their for the driver. Last, no veterans should respect fault honor towards veterans by their bull…. designs to such you in because I am a senior veteran trainer who they fired from the words of my student that had eyes to see what his trainer was doing an entire country away. Good Job
CRE…you deserve the best of bad luck.
This has been going on for years, think it started with North American Van Lines back in the 70s or 80s. Get you to buy a truck treat you like shit and repossess it and sell it to another sucker. Prime has the same scheme going. Glad to see someone do something about it.
England should be put out of business! I talked to a few drivers in Salt Lake City when my engine was being rebuilt. They all complained and I learned that they make driver instructors out of drivers who only have 6 months of driving experience. I asked the one driver who just became an instructor if he had ever driven in snow or ice and he replied “no”. Totally ridiculous and dangerous!!
Ya know, I only see an upside to not working for England. A double upside to not being glued to the company via a lease. And now they’re going to get PAID for not driving for England? Trifecta!
Yes, except the drivers involved will see very little even if the suit is won. It’s the lawyers that will enjoy a grand payday regardless of the outcome. Attorneys are the house, and the house always wins.
yup, never file class action, if you got a good suit, file contingency, at least then you get the money (yeah lawyer gets a lot more…still)
LMAO!
Knight is at the top of this list as well. All of these lease purchase programs should be dealt with harshly….promises of grandeur and the only thing grand happening is the company that sucks the life right out of a young driver stupid enough to fall for it….
I wonder if CRE getting money from the Govt for training new drivers is going to be an issue in this suit? We pay taxes and that means we are paying to be undermined by CRE. I too have been told by past employees of CRE that you are trainer after 6 month or you are not working for them anymore. One way or another your gone. CRE finds a way to terminate you. All the little ways they use to screw a driver is catching up to them.
Bottom of of the barrel company. I actually spoke one of their recruiters years ago. I did a little research and new they were not a company to work for. When you do a little math it is clear that you will be working for about minimum wage.
I don’t understand how they even find drivers.
Interesting to read about this Company. I,m in a Greyhound Coach on my way to Burns Harbor, IN. for Trainer Orientation week. (Feb2017). Driver since 1995.
Lots of questions arise, I guess I will get answers soon enough. God speed……
No carrier will hire you unless you have SOME experience. Some of these drivers have to start somewhere to get some miles under their belt. Companies like those mentioned above in a prior response are predominately just a stepping stone for drivers to get some experience and move on once they have 6/mo+ OTR.
I drove a dozen years and had over 1.5 million miles of safe driving in all-season weather through out 48 states. I got off the road and got started my own business for 14 years in a different career field. When the recession hit I lost pretty much everything, my real estate holdings, wholesalers, my own house etc. It sucked royally. I had to do something to pay the bills so for the first time in 14 years I had to consider climbing back into a rig. Believe me, I didn’t want to go that route but I had my back against the wall.
Not a single company would even consider hiring me because I was off the road for 14 years. Never mind I had over a million safe driving miles. I called almost all of them, even the bottom of the barrel carriers just to get my foot in the door. None of them would give me a shot because I didn’t have any ‘recent experience’ I was told.
Almost everyone I spoke to over the course of a month wanted to hire me because of my past experience and qualifications but was told their insurance carrier wouldn’t sign on and I’d have to go back to truck driving school to get re-certified. I was peeved to put it mildly. I had to spend $5000 to go back to truck driving school to learn how to drive a truck and I probably had more experience, although not recent but anyone whose logged thousands of hours in a big truck knows you don’t forget how to drive one no more than you forget how to drive a bicycle after riding one thousands of hours, than the damn school instructor had.
Anyways, yep, I had a good 8 years more experience than the school instructor had, passed all my tests and bs and climbed back into a rig for the past 5 years until 2015, paid off all my bills and got back on my feet and got back off the road again because I hated it, I hated almost everything about the industry comparing it to the 80’s & 90’s when it was a good career to earn a good living in. Not anymore. The industry is in the sewer and worse than it’s ever been so I see no future in it anymore and I’m out for good because of carriers like mentioned above who no longer give a damn if a driver has a life or not, the constant micro-managing, the lack of respect etc, etc, the list goes on…
Truckdriving School is FREE: FAFSA GRANT. I did it. $65.00 is ALL I pd, to school for ‘MY’ chair. (St. Pete, Fla.). Kathy Rains @ Doctors For Truckers .
Thanks….Very good piece of Information about the industry.
Ditto! My experience exactly. I literally lived in a truck for 17 years. That was 15 years ago. I can still visually see the dashboard in my old truck. From what I hear, you would be better off as a greater at Wal Mart these days.
The next carrier that’s due for a class action lawsuit is Kelle’s Transport Service based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The way the company treats their drivers is terrible and they will try to suck your pockets dry. A few employees in management callled several past employers of mine to inform them that I’m on their NO HIRE list. That is against the law. I am self employed now and loving every minute of it. They can go suck turds out of the sewer because that’s where Kelle’s belongs.
I worked for his daddy Dick Simon(97-99),who was the next door neighbor to CRE.
It was a good outfit until the old man turned it over to his kid’s so he could retire.
They then did pretty much everything they could do to run the company into the ground(including illegal insider stock trading).
Then Jerry Moyes of Swift bought them out,put the Company under his daughters name,and renamed it Central Refrigerated.
I agree. These companies are thieves. Add ATS to that list. King of them all. However unless something has changed recently I don’t think TMC has lease purchase. When I was there you had to buy your own truck and sign on with them. Back to the point. These companies get mega rich on the backs of hard working drivers. Sad. Clean the swamp of these carriers.
They left me walking from waxahachie tx with no money no way to get home.I had to call my mother in law to send me money to get back home to las cruces.nm.
In 2010 so they a bunch of liars
Schneider is next……… all this greed these guy stop pull freight and start selling trucks they don’t have they employ you as company driver promise you 2500-3000 miles as an OTR driver put you to sit all week only giving you 1500-1700 miles then introduce you to Owner Operator position so you lease a truck from them that you cant pay for but as a young driver you don’t understand until your knee deep in debt……. they all liars
Punctuation is a wonderful thing.
Remember, CEO of cr was the head of the ata for 18 months and got all kinds of pats on the back from all the mega Company members.
Oh ya cr England’s CEO is the spear head of the speed limited rule.
Said it was for safety, but we all know the ata wanted to dominate with the number of trucks running versus a small fleet. Eld isn’t good enough. Wants everyone to drive at same speed. What a p.o.s.
C.R. England is one of the oldest bottom feeders in the industry. And as far as lease purchase program, follow old timers advice and never ever get your truck the same place you get your freight.
I remember way back when I drove for Celedon, and talked with some of the lease operators. $3000/month to lease 6-8 year old bare-bones Century tractors. No guaranteed freight, no stop or waiting payouts, HMG mileage calculations, no mechanical warranties or grace periods… the list went on. Borderline criminal.
The ‘never-never’ lease program is still alive and well, unless you’re one of the poor saps that falls for it. This has been going on in the trucking industry for decades. Trucking industry publications, at one time, would write articles outlining the costs of being an o/o down to the mile in an effort to educate drivers on the realities of the endeavour and combat the companies bogus ‘never-never lease’ programs. Don’t fall for this scam. Trucking companies are using these tactics, solely, to rid of significant overhead at a drivers expense.
Worked with them for 6 months too many bad experiences to mentioned, relevant story for this article had my buddy who I teamed then we went solo, he worked there 9 months and he recovered 3 trucks from lead lease drivers who got fired after a year to 2 years and lost their trucks because england fired them
Thirty-six years in this beeswax, I’ve never hear of anybody coming out of a lease/purchase deal with anything but holes in their pockets.
I went thru that BS in November 2008, and finally they repoed my truck cos I was sick an couldn’t afford a doctor on $40.00 paychecks after they burned me for all their assets, I hope you all sue the crap out of England, they’ve burnt a lot of drivers and don’t give a rat’s ass cause their millionaires
I drove for them when they were a good respectful company. The kids took over and what they did over the years to those poor drivers is sad. They are dream killers. People come in there dreaming of owning there own Truck but end up in a nightmare.
Knew a couple that went to team with them.they lost everything they owned in 9 months house, cars,20k
Plus in debt when they finally gave up.its just a shame mega carrier’s
Like CRE Have ruined it for everyone.
Agreed. Do the company driver thing if you “have” to get the experience and then move on. Go get a job flippin burgers rather than sign one of their leases. You’ll be way better off.
I was a “FAST TRACK TRAINER” THE FIRST ONE! I war in the first company video’s the company made. I was also one 72 lease operators that quit in one day. There is a reason we did. Line item on settlements with a label as OTHER.
Mine totaled over 90k over 2 years. What makes it interesting is my now wife was a lease operator payroll cleark. (By the way she never signed a non disclose agreement so her testimony is available). She was told not to question the deduction and just do her job. If the powers to be would like to reach out to either my wife or myself. Please contact me.
This is ludicrous. I started with CRE (unfortunately) in 2008. I used them to get back into the industry after a long gap. It was an automatic that you would drive for them after training, well what they call training.
C.R. England…another company that steals from people who have no idea what they are getting into. They lie, lie, lie to get you in there promising the world so the family can get rich off of a persons hard labor. What people don’t know is C.R. England owns that company Horizon and they enjoy selling worn out trucks to people new in the transportation industry who have no idea what they are getting into. They have training programs, and until you fulfill the terms of the contract you will almost starve or have to get on food stamps to survive. I used to manage for them and saw with my own eyes what they were doing to new drivers. It was terrible, and myself being a driver for 22 years, I could no longer work for them because for me it was just immoral. I left taking a management job elsewhere.
CR England should lose the ability to license drivers,it’s a clear conflict of interest that jeopardises the public safety.
Licensing should be through a community college,no more fly by night schools.
I would suggest seizing credit England’s assets and finances during the lawsuit. Then conduct an investigation on them for multiple accounts of fruad.
I leased with fedex ground for 6 years when I left i was 18 k in debt a friend who had been there twice as long was just twice as much in debt so I could see which direction I was headed and got out. I ended up with swift for three years 08-11 because my time with Fedex was non cdl i had to do thier training then was a company driver for swift. They never pushed me to become owner op even tho I asked a couple of times should have left swift after the training period was over. Big companies fear the lawyers and have all kinds of weird policies to try to look good in court it makes life miserable as a driver as you sit too much I try to stay company but did do some 1099 work in North Dakota If you want to find some lyiers go to North Dakota i’m currently a company driver with a guarantee our weekly pay is not great but it’s definitely above average and takes the stress out of sitting around when you’re not getting paid. The biggest problem for drivers really is ONLY getting paid while you’re moving an hourly situation or at least a minimum guarantee that is livable if that’s all you ever get my motto is limit your liability (expenses)by being a company driver and avoid large and mega fleets that bid freight so low
I drove for them for about a year and a half. I started in Waxahachie in a refresher course. I completed both phases of “training” and hitched a ride with one of their 2nd phase trainers (the 6 month experience type). She confessed she didn’t have the skills to dock her trailer and regularly made a habit of coaxing other drivers to do it for her. I know this is not quite to the point, but it’s pretty revealing about the nightmare that is CR England.
CR England Not to be trusted! My trainer was fired for stealing stuff off a truck. As being assigned his apprentice I was sent home and stuck with a 5,000 student loan
With over 30 yrs of driving trucks and lease purchasing several trucks since 1991 ,C.R England was my last starting in 3-2010. I went totally broke in 1 year. It was the only time I owed more each week than my pay. Even after being forced into training students I still wasn’t able to make money. I’m retired now and have lost the desire to drive again. 8 years later I’m still struggling to make it through each month with major medical problems now
I worked for em as a “lease operator” in 2010 for the first month I was taking home $900 a week then they sat me in laredo for two weeks claiming that there were no loads luckily for me I had money in the bank and unused food stamps on an ebt card because by the end of my tenure all of it was needed they shut off my fuel card in Atlanta after I had gotten sufficiently in the red. I was able to borrow $300 from my dad (the only money I had to borrow during this time) so that I could bobtail home in Oklahoma and return the truck on my terms. since they cancelled my lease they were in violation of the contract and I owed no money (not that it mattered they sent me bills that slowly decreased in rediculousness first 38k then 7k then $500.00) I put them behind me and have been doing well so an extra 1k is nice but the judge should have bankrupted that evil pyramid scheme. they had armed guards and metal detectors you had to go through in order to speak to your dispatcher they KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. they expected someone to lose their mind do to the scam they were running and shoot up the place. the settlement should have been in the billions. as an aside attorneys should have their fees capped.
it seemed like they had it all timed out but I don’t have expenses like most people it seemed to me I was supposed to be destitute and having already burned all of my family through loans when they shut my comdata card off and cancelled my lease but since I don’t have a wife kids and a mortgage I was able to roughly skate through unscathed was even able to pay off the pawn note for the items in my truck I had to pawn when I left the flying j on I 20 in georgia. so I could repay my dad as fast as possible.
and since I own 30 acres in the country when the recovery driver tried to sneak onto my property in order to repo the truck he was forced to call me instead of acting like a burgler due to the fact that my german shepherds wouldn’t allow him on the property. everything and I do mean EVERYTHING about C.R. England was a dirty scam. and they can protest all they want they got off easy the lives they destroyed they are lucky they can’t be summarily executed for it because I wouldn’t disagree with a legal punishment such as that for them.
I notified CR England that I was resigning in 2 1/2 weeks for a new job. I am short of the time frame to pay off the school now but I was called this evening and told “we will accept your resignation now” and then “have all of your stuff out of the truck tonight “. I think I will turn this over to my attorney to look into constructive discharge.