Legal?? Abandoned Load

You absolutely can recover the expenses in recovering the vehicle legally. You can hold any monies due to the driver to offset the costs. Beyond that, you can sue him for any remaining expenses. If he is ####### enough to abandon a truck, he is likely a deadbeat, so even if you get a judgement against him, good luck collecting it. You just need to make sure you keep all of the reciepts and documentation for all associated expenses to recover the truck, the load, the cargo claim, etc...

 

True, but you cannot withhold a paycheck. Doing so is against the law in many states.

 

Maybe so, but it is done everyday for this exact reason. By companies of all sizes.

 

Not necessarily. In MOST states you are required to pay ALL wages and cannot deduct anything (other than taxes, insurance, etc) without the written consent of the employee. But he DOES have the right to recover all costs associated. Problem is, did the "loss" happen in the same state the driver lives in? If not, and the loss is LESS than the Small-Claims maximum, he will either have to sue the driver in the state he lives in, or just forget about it.

 

Any employee with any smarts would sue the employer.......and WIN, as I have done on three occasions.

 

In Indiana this is how it is... It is illegal to not pay, if the company you worked for is out of state you can not take them to small claims court... The state will only help you collect claims up to $800 dollars, you must hire a employment claims lawyer to receive claims larger then $800... So, you have to pay in order to receive your pay, of coarse you can sue for legal fee's as well but some people may not have that money because they are owed money that they didn't get.. A catch 22 and my guess is this is one of the reasons companies try to get away with not paying.... If you do win you can collect interest on the money as well the legal fee's..

 

Good advice from all posters,BUT I'll bet here's how it plays out in the real world....The driver will get off scot free,the truck owner will eat the bill and the company will keep the money and the reason I say that is it goes back to the VERY oldest law on this planet.Possesion is 9/10ths of the law.Back in the day,if I stole a banana out of your tree and you came to my hut looking for it,I'd hit you with a rock and eat the banana real fast,thereby making the banana mine.Possesion.That's where it's all at baby,who possess the dinero right this second is who will more likely than not STILL have it tomorrow.Just my advice and it's as worthless as I am so pay it no heed.

 

So this would make it right and legal?

 

I would have stuck to rock...Dave told me you were hiring a driver and i waited to see what happened.I also have a open truck and dont know if im going to sell it or hope not to get screwed and hire a driver.. good luck with this . hope everything works out for you... Walt