The outburst of press conferences and public statements made by Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam just after his company was raided by federal agents two weeks ago is over. Now an eerie silence has fallen – the calm before the storm. No statements have been made by PFJ leadership as their legal counsel gears up to defend them from the hurricane of lawsuits that’s about to descend on them.
The first drops of rain have already been felt. So far one two three four lawsuits have been filed by trucking companies who feel that they have been victims of the alleged rebate fraud that may have been knowingly perpetrated by fuel sales representatives at PFJ.
The very first lawsuit was filed by Atlantic Coast Carriers and claimed that they were owed more in rebates on the fuel purchases they made with Pilot. Since then the lawsuits have become increasingly multifaceted.
One lawsuit, filed by National Trucking Financial Reclamation Services, claims that the company withheld “tens of millions of dollars in diesel fuel price rebates and discounts from customers since at least 2005.” The lawsuit includes allegations of fraud, deceptive trade practices, unjust enrichment, conversion, breach of contract and fraudulent concealment. Interestingly, the company was incorporated on April 22nd, two days before the lawsuit was filed, and the president of the Arkansas Trucking Association is listed as the registered agent/officer of the LLC.
These types of lawsuits aren’t the only ones that are being filed.
A restraining order was filed against PFJ and CEO Jimmy Haslam by Atlantic Coast in an attempt to try to prevent PFJ agents from contacting potential claimants and getting them to settle out of court. The worry was that PFJ representatives may have been getting trucking companies to sign away their rights to bring them to court in exchange for a repayment of less than the full amount that they were owed.
The document said that PFJ’s “back-room meetings and secret attempts to pay off injured claimants should not be allowed to continue.” The restraining order also says that Haslam’s calls to trucking companies “may constitute an improper attempt to coerce parties and witnesses under Tennessee law.”
In response, a Pilot attorney called the allegations of witness tampering “absolutely outrageous. The company is trying to do the right thing and the company is trying to pay money it owes. And somehow that translates into witness tampering.”
The restraining order was rejected by a judge in a Tennessee court, and calls from Haslam and his staff to trucking companies continue.
Even before the FBI raid, when companies would catch PFJ in the act, salespeople would blame it on a computer error and then offer only a portion of what the companies were owed. W.N. Morehouse, one of the companies that was directly referenced in the FBI affidavit, was owed at least $146,000 in missed rebates. When he confronted PFJ about it, they said that it wasn’t that much, and that they would write a check for $88,000 and offer an even greater rebate for fuel in the future. Owner Curt Morehouse, a long-time member of our community here at TheTruckersReport.com, took them at their word and accepted the deal.
After the FBI raid, W.N. Morehouse requested that the full amount be paid back. On their Facebook page, W.N. Morehouse announced that “We have agreed to a deal with Pilot Flying J to make our company whole from the rebate issue. Jimmy Haslam seems to be a fair and reasonable businessman.” Then, on April 29th, Curt Morehouse posted “Today we received a wire transfer from Pilot that made us whole from the rebate scam. We consider this matter settled and will continue to buy fuel from Pilot. Whether or not Jimmy Haslam knew about it, he has done what we feel is right and thank him for doing so.”
Morehouse was not so forgiving about the sales people who scammed him in the first place saying “The sales reps, if they knowingly did these things on purpose, I’d love to see some people get fired.”
Many of PFJ’s sales reps have been put on administrative leave, but as of right now, no one has been fired, and no one has been charged with any crimes.
Next Story: Is The Pilot Flying J Internal Investigation Beyond Reproach?
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Now the additional fun begins. If it can be found out that PFJ paid rebates it owed to motor carriers, and then this was not passed on by those carriers to the owner operators that were with them at the time, then the flurry of lawsuits will ramp up even more. This has the potential to be a real legal heyday for lawyers, and a nightmare for PFJ and the carriers also. I can just see the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association warming up legal counsel in the bull pen now. It is amazing the mess that is caused when someone does not live up to their end of the bargain. Unfortunately, this has become the de facto operating strategy of business in the last 30 years.
No joke. U know the trucking companies will keep every cent if they can.
I can’t offer anything from a business perspective about PFJ, but from a trucker’s point of view?
It isn’t anything most drivers can put their finger on, but there is just something fishy about the way PFJ does business.
I can respect a company that wants to maximize profit, but PFJ, I dunno, it is like they think their whole customer base is naive or something–all the way up from average “Joe Motorist” to Big-Company CEO.
I can’t say one way or the other if the allegations in this article are true, but what I can say, and which comes from years of experience, is that where there is smoke, there is almost ALWAYS fire.
I just hope, that if it is proven that PFJ has been screwing people, that they get what is coming to them. Big-Business hubris is a cancer in this country, and it is ultimately the consumer who suffers most. It is time for these huge, faceless bureaucratic organizations to be held to account.
PFJ is worse than Walmart, they are more like the Borg.
I have just about never bought fuel at Pilot – – stripped down truckstops that they are. Their attitude of “buy stuff and get out” has always been prevalent. When they bought Flying J and they took out the buffet and replaced it with Denny’s I have not bought so much as a dime’s worth of fuel from them either. My favorite is Petro, and then T/A next.
I agree never liked pilot then really hated them when bought out flyingj then put that horrible restaurant Dennies never fueled there again and banned my trucks from fueling there as well. I will travel 60 miles out of my way to not stop at there business even more so now.
I no longer do business with PFJ, however I will use their facilities to relieve myself and use a spot to park. I do not buy anything from them due to the F-ing they are doing. I’ll keep doing business with Loves, Petro T/A
I question any company that sells its customers its services and in return offers discounts and then never provides those discounts. What kind of business is that? Trucking companies operate on paper thin margins and for some that is a profit. I have to wonder why more trucking companies did not keep better track of their fuel rebates? Is it because they blindly trusted Pilot or did they simply not have the staff to do the bookwork? In my mind if their is one bad seed maybe their is more? Who else is not providing the discounts and rebates they promised?
I never liked all the changes but live goes on and you must change with it. William go to your fuel stops and park where you fuel. Its ok to take ours that fuel at PFJ but you refuse to but want to advantage of our spots
William Quit
Keep up the good work PFJ
I’m of the same mindset as William. I rarely buy fuel at PFJ, or other major chains, as I can purchase less expensively other places even with rebates, that the carrier I’m leased to passes on.
If there are those of us that desire to park there as it is convenient for us to maximize our time in a day, and refuse to make purchases, that is our prerogative, like it or not. Your saying, “take advantage of our spots,” like you own the place. We can and will take of advantage of parking without patronizing the establishment. This is still America with freedom to do as one pleases without harming others.
Had PFJ just conducted business within the boundaries of fair and ethical business practice, there is an abundance of legitimate profit to had. Hubris and greed seek more at the detriment of others. I’ll laugh when I park there and not spend a cent. I’ll laugh even harder, should justice be served, and hope they have to pay for years from profits to make restitution for their nefarious dealings.
Sorry to say, but I can’t say I’m terribly surprised.
To put it this way, I don’t think it’s necessarily in the best interests of operators, whether you have one truck, drive for a company, or own a bunch of trucks to see this trend of consolidation in the truck stop industry. Pretty soon, it won’t be anything but Pilot/Flying J, TA/Petro, and Loves. And when you got an industry basically controlled by three players, somehow I think customers are going to come out on the short end of that. I’m just sayin’.
Exactly,greed was the motivating factor in this fiasco. It’s not good enough for one to reach the status of “the only game in town” they have to take it a step (dollar) further,and when that happens somebody usually goofs up. When people /corporations acquire so much money,there is something psychologically in the brain that snaps,and they go into “Rockefeller, Carnegie,and J.P Morgan mode” either take it all or nothing.
All truck stop chains rip drivers off whether it be behind the scenes like PFJ,
or “in your face” like T/A or Pietro with their special truckers rates at their
restaurant/partners such as Subway, Popeye’s, etc. These companies know they
have a captive audience; after all, you can’t park that 70 ft rig just anywhere, right?
When I was a kid I used to hear an off repeated maxim about truckers and truck stops;
It said, “Eat where you see a lot of semis parked because truckers always know where
the best food is.” Now that I drive for a living I know the truth of it; we eat where we can
park the damn truck.
HELLO!! BOUT TIME! : ) ‘Every Dog gets his DAY!’ Consider~(Does ANYone ELSE see what I see?) I had LONG heard that BILL Haslam ‘OWNED’ these Truckstops. (or PART-Owner. NOW…HE is the Governor of the State of Tennessee. I wonder~~ Did he SELL his Shares to his family? Did he GIFT them to his family, in order to avoid ‘Conflict of Interest’ re Tennessee Finances? If so..did THE STATE receive ALLLL the TAXES it would have been Due from such a large Sale/Gift? Hmmmm… Having been a Driver for 6 years… and taken more than a 1000 showers at PFJ… HOW many times did I tell the ‘Managers’ that if ALL THAT MOLD in these showers, and on these FILTHY DOOR HANDLES is still here when I come back through, I am going to call the County Health Department!
Kathy, I live in Kville, home of Pfj, and the Haslam’s. Bill still.owns his Pfj stock, as a matter of fact he refused to put it in the blind trust with his other business holdings when he became Gov. of Tn, then changed the disclosure rules for his cabnet. I had dealings with him when he was mayor of Kville, and none of this surprises me. When your daddy is the King of East Tn, stealing a million here or a few hundred grand there from the very people that made you billionairs must have been easy to justify. We know a bunch of folks that work at Pfj, and this is just starting.
HOW MANY TIMES do we Drivers STAND there…WAITING in lines, while the inexperience or NO help is there to get us taken care of QUICKLY? E-LOGS are just TICKING, TICKING away. These Loads can NOT be late! Does PFJ care? Too often..seems VERY LITTLE. Prostitutes in the Parking Lots. Parking Lots smell like Open Outhouses! They COULD put more security, more cameras, FINE the Drivers dumping their P-bottles IN the Parking Lot. These Truckstops are HAZARDOUS to ones Health! They definitely NEED to Shape Up and BE there for Drivers and other customers, or put a KEY IN THE DOOR. Thanks US GVMNT for THIS one!!
Now Kathy, let’s not get too involved in blaming Pilot for the absolute lazy pigs that, more & more, frequent their truckstops. I have yet to see ANYONE from Pilot force a “driver (and I use that term loosely) to dump his pee jug and/or trash in the lot. I have seen (and called in on) folks that will get out of their trucks, walk to the back of their trailer (which sometimes is NO farther then the trash can away) and deposit their “bundles of joy” under their trailer, then drive over them on the way out.
While I’m not a big fan of Pilot, they have plenty they are responsible for without heaping all the rest of the crap that piggish, lazy “drivers (a euphymism for steering wheel holders mostly) are really responsible for.
Wow! they’ve been doing crap like this and I can’t even get a free cup of coffee when I buy a thousand dollars worth of fuel?!
Before I even begin I am fully aware this is really really small potatoes to the millions of dollars owed to all the companies that bought fuel however, having said that I am hoping there are others out there that got screwed like I did and maybe something can be done? Just a thought????
I brought a GPS at the Pilot in Joplin, MO, it did not work correctly from day one, I tried to take it back they said no that it was in an old style box & needed two bar codes (they didn’t have a problem selling it to me, hummm?) I had the receipt & all the pieces and was well within the time frame & met all the requirements for their return policy that was on the receipt. Basically, I was told to eat it. Incidentally the cost was $456 and yes I still have it and no it still does not work right, so I got screwed by PFJ! Maybe $456 doesn’t seem like much, but if you consider the miles I had to drive to make that well, I just hate to let it go, it just isn’t right? Plus good boy Jimmy Haslan is sitting behind a desk stealing of millions of dollars and making millions & can’t afford to refund $456.00, what’s wrong with this picture?
if you send it to who made it they will repair/replace it for free.
Wow, what a surprise,not! I just hope they do a full investigation and if charges are sufficient, bring them on. But keep it a secret until its time, because I have a feeling if old Jimmy boy is tipped of that the feds are bringing the paddywagon after him, he’s gonna either run for the border, or take the coward way and BOOM! These types can dish it out but but the thought of prison drives them to blow their brains out.
Really? Atlantic Coast Carriers eh? They are a bigger ripoff than FJ/Pilot. ACC is owned by the biggest crook in Georgia, Olin Wooten.
ACC got what they had coming and then some
wow oh wow it’s going to get to get anything done at Tennessee Court.because the owner / CEO or whatever the title is a pilot.because he’s not only the owner of the Cleveland Browns he is also the governor of Tennessee.I’m just curious why nobody’s mention the fact he is the owner of pilot is the is the governor.
Those are two different Haslams. The governor is the brother of the owner. Though Governor Haslam does have shares in the company.
I’ve said it once and i’ll say it again. PFJ treat their customers the same way most OTR companies treat their drivers.
yep,i worked at landstar till I went broke and I want mine even if its just a dollar. can you say CLASS ACTION? because I can if I gotta file on every class action that I qualify for till I die im gonna have to make up a lot of lost money. gimmee that stolen money back you fockers.
So why isn’t the CEO (and others )in jail??
Were the FBI raids about justice or how much fine money can be squeezed out of them? .
Of course any fine money will most likely come from a fuel price hike on the end comsumer and O/O s.
The raid came after a 2 year investigation including several inside informants, multiple recorded meetings, scores of recorded phone conversations, at least 8 different search warrants on the HQ and each regional sales managers home, and seasure and copying of every computor storage device the company had. The reason the raids were conducted with both the IRS & FBI is because they were looking for proof of criminal fraud and tax evasion. Hell, they didn’t even inform the Knoxville Police about the raid untill they had taken over the building, then just asked for traffic control help. Don’t think anybody is going to skate on this one. Just read the Cleveland Ohio newspaper’s reports about Jimy.
Whats really going to be interesting is when the feds / IRS start asking some of these trucking companies where the rebates show up on the books.
I’ll bet my house and everything in it that A LOT of these guys took this money as an unreported quarterly / monthly bonus.
Look no farther than the folks at Western Express…..good God, what a really bad joke that place is.
“Sooooooo, you screwed us out of $5 million, huh?”
“Well, tell ya what……gimmie a million and take this hunk of crap airplane off our hands, and we’ll call it square.”
“How’d that be?”
Trust me……Jimmy Haslam ain’t the only guy crapping his pants right now. This is gonna get real good before it’s over.
I can’t wait to see how this ends.I’m glad pilot/flyingj is getting sued.That’s all I wanna say for now.
This scam reminds me of credit card company scams. They offer you 0% interest for 6 months or a year then if you use the card they put you on a 25 day billing cycle to make sure you screw up and pay late so they an hit you with a 18% interest the second that the postage date is a day later than the due date. Then on top of it all they bill you for an amount below the interest charges so you will owe them forever. And it all hinges on the fact that most people aren’t paying attention to their bill. They just get it and pay it. They take advantage of and count on the fact that outlives are busy and most people don’t take the time to read every detail. That’s what PFJ has been doing. That’s what credit card companies have been getting away with for years. I hope PFJ gets put out of business for this and that it sets a precedent for all of these crooked business out to steal from us using tricks like this.
Some of y’all are just funny. You’ll slam a trucking company at the drop of a hat …..now you defend them!
Its business fellas business!Companies get the edge every way they can. I will still contend that the owner may not have been privy to this. I’ve known more than one sales manager and most, OK all, have been the scum of the earth, they screw the customers, the business, and the salesman
When i negotiate, i like to have the upper hand. Not let some guy named Hasam or Monkhead have it. BTW, there’s plenty of gas stations that have cheaper fuel, like quiktrip, speedway, natsc, etc…
Acc is a joke and as far as I’m concerned OW can suck it up. He deserves to be ripped off. $$$hole
Way off topic – Stopped at a Pilot for breakfast today on the CT / RI border. Had the audacity to set myself up for thinking eggs toast and coffee could be a good thing.
Two choices for breakfast – Nathan’s Hot Dog or Sbarro Pizza — Are you ….ing kidding me?
Whatever happened to real food? …
…not to mention the usual and customary bathroom that looked like one annual cleaning was more than enough.
Conditions of the bathroom are solely due to the pigs that walk in public and trash them. Granted that cleaning up after them (those that think their Momma is following them around nthe country, cleaning up behind Them) and their sloppy habits is on ANY public facility but the source of the mess is the pigs that use them… 100%. Pilot doesn’t tell Messiskins to deposit their used toilet paper on the floor. Pilot doesn’t tell them to plug the toilets with paper towels. Thats on the slobs and inconsiderate A-holes that do it 100%.Whether it’s trash & pee jugs in the lot or trash anywhere on the property, that’s on those doing the trashing, not those who own the place. Our industry, and society in general, has become something that is damned well pretty sorry in the last 25 years.
Postscript – if you are allowed to see the bathroom, and it looks like a liquid war zone, just imagine what the kitchen (which you generally aren’t allowed to see) looks like.
Just a thought…
I’m looking forward to the upcoming lawsuits. Catching these stealing crooks is great! They should pay back for all their devious greedy actions.
The sad thing about all this is there are many corps. doing as they please. Stealing here taking there.
About them getting what they deserve, If only that were true. You and me will pay for it all, they will just raise there prices and you and I will pay for there stealing from us. Anymore, that’s how it works and if you believe other wise your either in on it or just plain naive. I will no longer fuel or shop at PFJ but will surely be taking up space if i need to. Here’s a Quick thought $1.45 for a soda refill at PFJ anywhere else $1.00 or less. I’m not so naive that I think we will put them out off business but there is no harm in trying. I wonder how Cleveland feels they thought they were getting a new fellow with some cash to help them rebuild there team, and got a crook with dirty money. I must say before I go somebody please tell me JUST HOW FREE ARE WE ?
Keep up the good work drivers cause our families can’t eat with out us.
must check PFJ’s coffee. I’d been drinking their coffee. $1.00 coffee might have a something in it too. plz Department of Food Administration should check their food so I can eat.
can we get a nice food? where? where?
only few places we can access to eat. dot& good dogs or bad dogs are looking for us doing bad stops and bad turns. we all do those when we really need them. that s not point but….
I mean plz put more stops and rest areas on the roads. then local people could run those stops and rest areas. show me this is big country.
What about Loves truckstops those i hear are someones wifes from pilot flying? they lose pfj they still have vested interest in Loves and the Cleveland Browns!
How many small trucking companies went out of buisness because of PFJ? How many private owners lost their trucks because of this? How many of them will be able to afford an attorney to get back what they are owed? I figure their reimbursement may not be as high as a larger trucking company, but it makes a difference when paying the bills, or not be able to and losing your only way of making a living and putting a roof over your families head! I am also wondering why I have not heard anything about this in the larger media circles???? This is more news worthy than most of the stuff they are reporting…and that is the truth. We are talking about reimbursing companies (large and small), and owners who bring to us what we use and need every single day. The cost trickles down to the consumer, and because of this, we are all paying for someone elses greed. So very sad…
I have no sympathy whatsoever for PFJ.
Olin Wooten and ACC are a joke. They have been ripping off drivers and customers in Georgia for years. As far as I am concerned, Olin Wooten can suck an egg.