JB Hunt - Lowell, Ar.

Doubtful, I just want a fair settlement.

 

well here it is another week of crappy pay. After deductions hubby got $91.00!!! Mahaffey the VP of the I/C told him that the lease goes to June not April. Hubby signed the lease 11/2/05 by my calculations the lease is up April 2nd. I need a lawyer who will be willing to go after JB Hunt.

 

as long as it specifies the EXACT DATE in the lease, this you have already checked, i know, but your "calculations" can be off. there may have been a "waiting period" that took effect when the lease was signed, sort of a "back out" in case your minds had changed.

in any event, you might need to spend some money for a real lawyer to search through the documents.

best of luck keep us informed, will you...?

 

Yeah, I'm just playin with ya.Best of luck,Jason.

 

Ok here is the latest news. I have been flooding the VP of the Independant Contractors Group a C.B. Mahaffey about this situation. I told him I had an attorney ready to start action on our sayso. Well apparently they think I have started a lawsuit already. I guess they got scared because now they are telling my husband he can terminate the lease agreement early and not have to pay the early termination penalty.
But they want to charge him to service the truck for the next driver and make us wait 45 days for our escrow monies.
I sent Mahaffey an email today stating our terms.

1) Put it in writing that there will be no penalty for early termination.
2) We will not pay for servicing the truck.
3) At the time the truck is returned there will be a walk through at that time in my husband's presence and it will be signed off on with both parties agreement to the condition of same.
4) All monies will be returned with 15 days and not the 45 days.

I told him that all above conditions must be met to avoid further action with the lawsuit.

Waiting on his reply.

 

While they may decide to honor your terms, the 45 day waiting period for escrow funds to be returned is allowable under Federal law. It is routine for companies to hold this for the 45 days until all calculations have been made on behalf of lessors, where they may be liable for payments of insurances, taxes, etc., and as an enticement to turn in all required paperwork to finalize the relationship.

One thing is for sure. They really don't want a court OR the IRS reviewing the terms that they subject drivers to, when they lease a truck from them. There are things that would definitely change the type of arrangement, and it could easily cost them millions, if it went into class action status. I look for this to come to a head in the next couple of years, not only for them, but a few other carriers as well.

 

what i would really like to see is all the trucking companies give up on the "lease/purchase" deals, plans etc,etc, and stick with what "they think" they know, and that's strickly "trucking", and let the potential owner-operator seek and find financing, a rig, and legal advice, and a business plan elsewhere, far, far away from the company involvement. these trucking companies that seek the lease/purchase individual only seem to really be interested in "selling" trucks, not freight hauling, or finding some un-suspecting, un-business savvy person to make the truck payments for them so that they can release themselves from those payments to the finance companies.

i will always believe that it takes an extreme amount of education, hard work, financial backing, and a desire to succeed in ANY business venture, and i feel that way too many people really don't "see the light" and get involved way over their heads and lose everything that worked for up to that point, only to have it ripped away from them real quick.

i would never recommend to anyone to become an owner-operator till they have been driving for at least a minimum of 5 years. i think 5 years will be sufficent time to gain valuable "road" education, see how the many companies operate, see how and where the most freight lanes are profitable, see what types of freight is/are profitable, and see how much dependable certain engines, transmissions, drive axles, electrical systems are on the various rigs.

in other words, "experience" as much as you can before you sign on any dotted line(s), don't just take someone's word that a particular rig, is better than another, or a certain lease is better than another.

don't just "willy-nilly" think one day, "hey, i can be an owner-operator, just like that guy, and i can make big bucks too".

cuz a quick/snap descision now can be your death rattle.

 

Considering that a Federal court recently ruled that FedEx contractors are employees of the company, where these people actually owned their respective vehicles used, it's not going to be very hard to get a similar and more impactive ruling against all of these companies that are recyling the same trucks through several drivers at a time, while retaining complete ownership and control of the vehicles in every case.

All it's going to take is for the right suit to be filed. I'm currently working with an attorney right now on a case, on behalf of a person who was so royally screwed, that some of what has been discussed in here, pales in comparison.

The "Truck Leasing Scandal", as I am now declaring it officially, is the tip of the iceburg to what is going on out here in the land of trucking. Trucking most certainly has taken a second seat to what some of these companies are into, to make a buck, and the only thing that is going to bring it to a complete halt is to keep trying to get the word out, and hopefully convince people that it is not in their best interests to work in ANY capacity for some of these carriers.

The Internal Revenue Service may also jump start some action being taken on this issue. Why? Because the rate of unpaid taxes by truckers who are self-employed is through the roof. When someone is savvy enough to realize which companies are associated with those that are not able to keep their taxes paid, then look for the left shoe to drop.

 

I was invited to be a party to a similar "leasing" scam in the limo business in the early 90s. I declined to participate. My employer sold his company to an outfit that wanted everyone to become an "independent operator". Except they weren't allowed to work independently of the company!

While some guys did okay with this situation, if the vehicle was damaged or down for repairs, the driver got still had to make the payment even though he was not getting any work, which broke more than one driver.
This type of arrangement is a slick way to shift the risk and expenses of owning equipment onto employees while, at least in this case, charging them interest on a loan to buy a vehicle that ends up being owned by the company.

Those of us who didn't go for the deal saw our work dry up, which is how I ended up trucking.

 

This is the reply I got to my email:

Subject: Re: Termination of Lease Purchase Agreement
To: "k haferbier" <kismet8582@yahoo.com>
From: C.B._Mahaffey@jbhunt.com Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:23:23 -0600

Reference your e-mail of today, I will respond to the issues you
surfaced.
Any further discussion of these will be conducted with John.

The early termination of the lease is an offer. It was made to John and
if
he wants to exercise that option, we will make it available and will
not
impose any early termination fees. This correspondence will serve as
documentation of that fact.

On any maintenance charges, we will adhere to the terms of the
contract,
which specifies that the truck be returned in the condition in which it
was
received, less fair wear and tear.

As for any escrow funds, by DOT regulation we have up to 45 days to
return
any outstanding funds. But, we will make every effort to return any
escrows
as soon as possible, which is what we do in all cases.

C.B. Mahaffey
Vice President
Independent Contractor Group
J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.