Er

I am going to be frank with you, there is no court that will support their argument. You don't need to worry about this, see your cdl allows you to leave any time you want. It is a form of protection because you are not competing with them on any level but other drivers. The company is not driving a truck, the company is providing service to others, and even if you decided to go and open up your own company, their reach extends to the end of the contract.

Another company hiring you is hiring you for your skills behind he wheel, not in the office and you're not taking customers with you, so there is no way you are competing with them.

What I would do is give notice, drive the truck back to their location and take your personal stuff out of it, clean it up when you can and walk away, you don't need a lawyer, you don't need to worry about a thing.

If they threaten a company with an owner like me, I would tell them to go to hell, there isn't going to be anyone suing a company that hires you.

this is a good example of driver abuse, wish they would name the company after they leave.

 

This sounds a lot like when I worked for Apergis out of Tacoma, Wa. He would pull BS like this.

I put up with it because I needed to get my foot back in the door and I had a game plan.

Once I had what I needed, I delivered his last load. Made sure the truck was spotless. Took pictures of everything. I was at a Winn Dixie DC and got their security to sign off on the condition of the truck. I then parked it and left it in their yard. Informed Anthony where he could get his truck in Miami. Hopped in the car with my wife and never looked back.

Hurst

 

It would be like having a job at McDonalds, and not being able to go home and deciding to quit and go to work at Burger King, and McDonalds threatening to sue Burger King, Wendy's and CarlJr, if they hire you. We wouldn't even have that conversation.

Everyone else, if you are starting a new job and they have someone sitting with you as you sign an operating contract, and having difficulties reading the lawyerspeak, have the person sitting with you explain it to you until you can understand. Do not sign what you do not understand. If there is something that still doesn't make sense or not groovin to you, snap a pic of that part of the contract and post it here.

Once you have signed all the pages of your operating contract, they will give you a copy of the whole thing for your records. KEEP your operating contracts for future reference. That way, if your dispatcher,DM, travel agent...whatever...tells you some lamebrain story of why you cant go home or quit or any of this other nonsense

One more thing, I know that many of you OTR drivers, like to pack your truck full of stuff from the house for that home style feeling or whatever the reason so many driver pile junk into the cabs...but I always recommend that you as a company driver travel as lightly as you can. Because if you ever need to jump ship, you're not trying to carry lots and lots of STUFF back to the house.

 

Both bad advice and wrong. There has been at least one case of CRST winning when sueing a company that hired a driver under contract.
Here is the overview: https://www.theiplawblog.com/2007/0...ue-competitors-who-hire-away-their-employees/

And here is the ruling from findlaw: FindLaw's United States Ninth Circuit case and opinions.

Like I said get legal advise and at worst go work outside trucking for a year.... (Dock, factory, whatever)
Is the likelihood of CRST suing high? No, but to say it will never happen is simply wrong.

 

Or they could just buy their own truck and trailer and start hauling the freight their current company hauls for. That would show them. Then the current carrier would have to sue his own customer.

 

You can not figure out how to go to the hospital together. I am thinking owning a truck is not in the cards for you.

 

Lol , yeah and it's dead fish too.