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Why are u all sueing all these companies?

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by NomadicVeteran0713, Oct 8, 2019.

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Traveling Light Load Member

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NomadicVeteran0713 said: ↑

Why the hell aren't y'all suing them?
Click to expand...

Because of the reality of it.
In an ideal world having the evidence of trucking company's wrongdoings makes a winning case, it sounds simple.

Bigger trucking companies have former DOT guys on their team, lawyers, experience from dealing with thousands of drivers, they are well met with how things go in the real world of trucking (FMCSA, DOT, courts, etc).

This is a cut/paste response from a USDOT/FMSCA Nebraska Division officer after I sent an example of how K & B Transportation clearly violated DOT hour rules (I sent detailed information, evidence supported with dispatch photos, messages, I even had voice recordings of phone talks):
"K&B must have though having a minor 14-hour violation was better than not getting their load delivered on time. This is their decision."

Nebraska officer justified a Nebraska-based company's violation of DOT hour rules but would he do the same if he stopped a truck driver and saw the driver's log show hour violations?! would he downplay the violations the same way calling them 'minor' and let the driver go without a fine?! would he have understanding for the truck driver who may have children at home who depend on him to earn more money that week because of unexpected medical bills, like he had understanding for the company (a business entity headquartered in Nebraska which pays state taxes and employs workers in Nebraska)?!

I told the Nebraska officer that the violations he acknowledged and defined as 'minor' happened during just 2 weeks I was with the company, there are 500+ drivers driving for the company, the company is notorious for violating 10-hour rule, the company does thousands of same violations a month. Nebraska officer told me if 50 drivers submit a complaint, it would be investigated further, this way it is only me and he dismissed my complaint (the main reason I reached out to the DOT/FMCSA was to protect me from K & B's retaliation).

Small percentage of truck drivers are proactive enough to take action against a trucking company. The day I left K & B Transportation, at the bus station I talked with another driver from my Orientation class who was leaving the company too. I asked him if he was aware of the drug test deduction no one told us about at the time we were being hired and if the company was paying him less miles than the pick-up/delivery distances driven. He told me the dollar amount deposited into his bank account is all he knew about his pay, he did not know if anything has been deducted from his pay or what number of miles he was being paid for. He never logged into his account on the company's portal, I showed him how to log in and check his pay stubs.

From this little bit of experience I have talking with other truck drivers employed by big trucking companies I worked for, hardly any truck driver will take the effort to reach out to the DOT/Dept. of Labor/lawyers being too busy driving for the next company to look back.

It seems in seldom cases the truck drivers group together, when they do it ends with a major class-action lawsuit.

Last edited: Oct 17, 2019

Traveling, Oct 17, 2019

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Bud A. said: ↑

It is painfully obvious to me that you've never sued a big company. Or even a small company.

In another life, I was a paralegal for 10 years, mainly on the defense side in civil suits. I spent a lot of time doing trial prep, and a lot of time in court rooms. I even thought about going to law school, but the longer I did that job, the less I wanted to, because out of the hundreds of lawyers I dealt with over the years, I only met about four of them who were decent people. I only say this so you'll understand that I actually know what I'm talking about based on experience, not just from reading about it or seeing it on TV.

First, it costs money to file a lawsuit. Oh, no big deal, maybe a hundred bucks for a filing fee, and some more money to get a process server to serve the suit properly. Hmmm, are you sure you know who to serve? Better do some research. Might take you a few hours to figure it all out. And you might have to serve them in another state. I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether that's the state where they're headquartered, or the state where they're incorporated, or at their registered agent in Delaware.

OK, whew! You got them served and their lawyer has contacted you and acknowledged service. Now you just go down to the judge and tell them your story and collect your money, right?

Oh ####, that lawyer just sent you a ton of paperwork. An answer to the complaint with something called counterclaims alleging you negligently damaged their equipment and killed the stray dog that lived in the yard at the terminal and who was the company mascot! Also, there's something called a motion to change venue to that other state 1000 miles away where their headquarters is located, because that's where you went to orientation. I mean, isn't that why you're asking for reimbursement for the bus ticket back home? Now you've got to file an answer to their counterclaims, and file an answer to their motion for change of venue.

But it's ok, you've got time. Sure, you've found another job and you're running out your 70-hour clock every week, but you're young and have boundless energy, right? And you can get your new company to route you back through to South Sioux City when it's time to show up in court once the change of venue has been granted, right? And the laws and rules in Nebraska can't be that different from the state where you originally filed and did all your initial research, can they?

So a couple of months pass, you fight through the b.s. of getting up to speed on the new venue and refiling everything, and now that pesky lawyer keeps sending you all kinds of paperwork called interrogatories and requests for production and requests for admission that you have to answer within 30 days. Then you figure out you probably should be doing the same thing to him, so you figure out how to do that, sort of. Thankfully by now you've got the proper formatting saved in your computer, so it only takes four or five hours to create those documents and print them out and send them by certified mail. And it only takes another five or ten hours to answer all those questions they sent.

You think, "Big time money, here I come! Wait till the judge and the jury hear my story! They're definitely going to punish these evildoers for false advertising!!!"

Oh #### what now. "Notice of Deposition"? You have to be at the lawyer's office in South Sioux City next week to answer questions? It's going to take a day? Maybe two? Welp, better get ahold of dispatch to let them know so they can start routing you that way. And if they can't, that nice lawyer on the other side will be real courteous and make time for you in his busy schedule to move it to another, more convenient time.

Wait, maybe you should be taking depositions of all those recruiters and dispatchers and safety people and mechanics that lied to you! Sure, why not? I mean, you've got a couple of weeks of vacation you can spend on that, don't you? And some savings to pay the court reporter to record all the proceedings and print out transcripts, right?

Finally, after a year of discovery, you're ready to go to trial! Let's get the judge to schedule it! Wait, what's that? The next trial date available is eight months from now? Are you sure your new company is going to like it if you go in with a bunch of demands to get routed through South Sioux City when the time comes, especially since they've been running you mostly Northeast to Southeast and back? (Plus, you've got this new lawsuit against the last company for lying to you about hometime and paying Practical Miles, so you're going to have to get routed back through Tennessee eventually too.)

But you're no quitter! The other side has never offered any kind of settlement other than to dismiss their counterclaims if you drop the lawsuit, which is insulting! (And everyone on the internet agrees that it's insulting!) So you end up having to resign your new job so you can get to Nebraska for the trial. It's the principle of the thing, right? Sure, you can only technically prove damages of $1,500, but you've claimed $100,000 in damages and you're sure that the jury will go ahead and award punitive damages, possibly in the millions!

So two years after you filed your lawsuit, the glorious day finally comes when you will get a jury of your peers to hear your complaints against this evil company. The jury pool is kind of small, because it turns out half the people sent a summons for jury duty skip out, and half of them that show up have rehearsed their reasons to tell the judge why they can't serve on a jury, and half of the remainder either work for or have a relative that works for the evil company you are suing. Oh well, that's not a good enough reason to exclude them all. They say they won't be biased, and you only get three peremptory challenges, so it looks like the guy who is the brother-in-law of the operations manager at EvilCo. is in. Too bad, too, since he carries himself well and speaks well. Better hope the other jurors don't elect him foreperson.

And so the trial begins. For some reason, the judge keeps interrupting you to remind you that the recordings of your phone calls with dispatch aren't admissible. (Make sure to mark down when that happened, for your federal civil rights suit against the judge!) And your pictures of your log graphs aren't admissible, either, because you don't have a way to authenticate them, and how many times does he have to remind you of his previous rulings on this subject? And a couple of the critical witnesses haven't shown up, and you forgot to make sure you had good service of the subpoenas, and now you're looking at their deposition transcript and it seems you forgot to ask the exact question you should have, so that's done.

And suddenly, your trial is over in under two hours. And the jury takes all of fifteen minutes to come back and find for the defendant. Next thing you know, bang! The gavel comes down and you now legally owe EvilCo. $3,000 in damages for the repairs to their tractor that you turned in, plus interest.

OK, Bud, I've got it, you say. I won't try to do it myself. I'll hire a lawyer to do it for me! No charge unless I win!

Great. Just remember, that lawyer has been to this rodeo a hundred times or more, and he already knows it's going to end this way, so he won't take your case, because it will be his time and money he's losing instead of yours.

So you try another lawyer. And another. And they all turn you down. Even the guy with the hammer won't talk to you.

But at least those guys on the internet will agree this company is evil and should be sued into oblivion. That should make you feel better.
Click to expand...

Wow. That was awesome!

FlaSwampRat, Oct 20, 2019

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I got a lawsuit right now against Flying J. I went in to go to the bathroom wearing my flip flops. The janitor was mopping and hit my big toe with the mop. I think I am willing to settle out of court for a half million. If we go to court I will want a million.

thelushlarry, Oct 20, 2019

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AModelCat, Rideandrepair, Lonesome and 1 other person Thank this.
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thelushlarry said: ↑

I got a lawsuit right now against Flying J. I went in to go to the bathroom wearing my flip flops. The janitor was mopping and hit my big toe with the mop. I think I am willing to settle out of court for a half million. If we go to court I will want a million.
Click to expand...

Is the flip flop okay?

FlaSwampRat, Oct 20, 2019

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thelushlarry said: ↑

I got a lawsuit right now against Flying J. I went in to go to the bathroom wearing my flip flops. The janitor was mopping and hit my big toe with the mop. I think I am willing to settle out of court for a half million. If we go to court I will want a million.
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you go, driver!

Lonesome, Oct 20, 2019

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thelushlarry and FlaSwampRat Thank this.
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thelushlarry said: ↑

I got a lawsuit right now against Flying J. I went in to go to the bathroom wearing my flip flops. The janitor was mopping and hit my big toe with the mop. I think I am willing to settle out of court for a half million. If we go to court I will want a million.
Click to expand...

....And a lifetime supply of shower shoes. After all, wearing those on loading docks wears them out faster.

MACK E-6, Oct 20, 2019

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bryan21384 said: ↑

This is the most crybaby thing I've ever seen posted. Sue them for what? Doing what all trucking companies do? Why are there so many sue happy entitled divas in this society? Jesus Christ man. I think somewhere along the way, so many new drivers forget that this is a business. You do what you have to do bring in drivers, you do what you have to do to keep drivers, most importantly, you do what's best for best for business. Newsflash, those promises aren't always what's best for business. Sue companies for false advertising lmao
Click to expand...

Having a hard time understanding why some of you are trying so hard to convince others not to stand up and fight back against liars and thieves. The odds are seemingly against us ... but so what? I'm more ashamed of the times I haven't fought a bully than the times I did and was beaten. Sometimes the "crybabies," as you call them, win... and make things better for themselves and future generations of drivers in the process.

Examples of drivers winning lawsuits against trucking companies are fairly easy to find. Here's one... 19,000 truck drivers score up to $100 million in class-action suit

plankton, Oct 20, 2019

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Bud A. said: ↑

It is painfully obvious to me that you've never sued a big company. Or even a small company.

In another life, I was a paralegal for 10 years, mainly on the defense side in civil suits. I spent a lot of time doing trial prep, and a lot of time in court rooms. I even thought about going to law school, but the longer I did that job, the less I wanted to, because out of the hundreds of lawyers I dealt with over the years, I only met about four of them who were decent people. I only say this so you'll understand that I actually know what I'm talking about based on experience, not just from reading about it or seeing it on TV.

First, it costs money to file a lawsuit. Oh, no big deal, maybe a hundred bucks for a filing fee, and some more money to get a process server to serve the suit properly. Hmmm, are you sure you know who to serve? Better do some research. Might take you a few hours to figure it all out. And you might have to serve them in another state. I'll leave it up to you to figure out whether that's the state where they're headquartered, or the state where they're incorporated, or at their registered agent in Delaware.

OK, whew! You got them served and their lawyer has contacted you and acknowledged service. Now you just go down to the judge and tell them your story and collect your money, right?

Oh ####, that lawyer just sent you a ton of paperwork. An answer to the complaint with something called counterclaims alleging you negligently damaged their equipment and killed the stray dog that lived in the yard at the terminal and who was the company mascot! Also, there's something called a motion to change venue to that other state 1000 miles away where their headquarters is located, because that's where you went to orientation. I mean, isn't that why you're asking for reimbursement for the bus ticket back home? Now you've got to file an answer to their counterclaims, and file an answer to their motion for change of venue.

But it's ok, you've got time. Sure, you've found another job and you're running out your 70-hour clock every week, but you're young and have boundless energy, right? And you can get your new company to route you back through to South Sioux City when it's time to show up in court once the change of venue has been granted, right? And the laws and rules in Nebraska can't be that different from the state where you originally filed and did all your initial research, can they?

So a couple of months pass, you fight through the b.s. of getting up to speed on the new venue and refiling everything, and now that pesky lawyer keeps sending you all kinds of paperwork called interrogatories and requests for production and requests for admission that you have to answer within 30 days. Then you figure out you probably should be doing the same thing to him, so you figure out how to do that, sort of. Thankfully by now you've got the proper formatting saved in your computer, so it only takes four or five hours to create those documents and print them out and send them by certified mail. And it only takes another five or ten hours to answer all those questions they sent.

You think, "Big time money, here I come! Wait till the judge and the jury hear my story! They're definitely going to punish these evildoers for false advertising!!!"

Oh #### what now. "Notice of Deposition"? You have to be at the lawyer's office in South Sioux City next week to answer questions? It's going to take a day? Maybe two? Welp, better get ahold of dispatch to let them know so they can start routing you that way. And if they can't, that nice lawyer on the other side will be real courteous and make time for you in his busy schedule to move it to another, more convenient time.

Wait, maybe you should be taking depositions of all those recruiters and dispatchers and safety people and mechanics that lied to you! Sure, why not? I mean, you've got a couple of weeks of vacation you can spend on that, don't you? And some savings to pay the court reporter to record all the proceedings and print out transcripts, right?

Finally, after a year of discovery, you're ready to go to trial! Let's get the judge to schedule it! Wait, what's that? The next trial date available is eight months from now? Are you sure your new company is going to like it if you go in with a bunch of demands to get routed through South Sioux City when the time comes, especially since they've been running you mostly Northeast to Southeast and back? (Plus, you've got this new lawsuit against the last company for lying to you about hometime and paying Practical Miles, so you're going to have to get routed back through Tennessee eventually too.)

But you're no quitter! The other side has never offered any kind of settlement other than to dismiss their counterclaims if you drop the lawsuit, which is insulting! (And everyone on the internet agrees that it's insulting!) So you end up having to resign your new job so you can get to Nebraska for the trial. It's the principle of the thing, right? Sure, you can only technically prove damages of $1,500, but you've claimed $100,000 in damages and you're sure that the jury will go ahead and award punitive damages, possibly in the millions!

So two years after you filed your lawsuit, the glorious day finally comes when you will get a jury of your peers to hear your complaints against this evil company. The jury pool is kind of small, because it turns out half the people sent a summons for jury duty skip out, and half of them that show up have rehearsed their reasons to tell the judge why they can't serve on a jury, and half of the remainder either work for or have a relative that works for the evil company you are suing. Oh well, that's not a good enough reason to exclude them all. They say they won't be biased, and you only get three peremptory challenges, so it looks like the guy who is the brother-in-law of the operations manager at EvilCo. is in. Too bad, too, since he carries himself well and speaks well. Better hope the other jurors don't elect him foreperson.

And so the trial begins. For some reason, the judge keeps interrupting you to remind you that the recordings of your phone calls with dispatch aren't admissible. (Make sure to mark down when that happened, for your federal civil rights suit against the judge!) And your pictures of your log graphs aren't admissible, either, because you don't have a way to authenticate them, and how many times does he have to remind you of his previous rulings on this subject? And a couple of the critical witnesses haven't shown up, and you forgot to make sure you had good service of the subpoenas, and now you're looking at their deposition transcript and it seems you forgot to ask the exact question you should have, so that's done.

And suddenly, your trial is over in under two hours. And the jury takes all of fifteen minutes to come back and find for the defendant. Next thing you know, bang! The gavel comes down and you now legally owe EvilCo. $3,000 in damages for the repairs to their tractor that you turned in, plus interest.

OK, Bud, I've got it, you say. I won't try to do it myself. I'll hire a lawyer to do it for me! No charge unless I win!

Great. Just remember, that lawyer has been to this rodeo a hundred times or more, and he already knows it's going to end this way, so he won't take your case, because it will be his time and money he's losing instead of yours.

So you try another lawyer. And another. And they all turn you down. Even the guy with the hammer won't talk to you.

But at least those guys on the internet will agree this company is evil and should be sued into oblivion. That should make you feel better.
Click to expand...

Small claims court may be an option. If so, it eliminates some of the obstacles to Joe Blow suing Big Bad Trucking Company.

plankton, Oct 20, 2019

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bryan21384 Road Train Member

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plankton said: ↑

Having a hard time understanding why some of you are trying so hard to convince others not to stand up and fight back against liars and thieves. The odds are seemingly against us ... but so what? I'm more ashamed of the times I haven't fought a bully than the times I did and was beaten. Sometimes the "crybabies," as you call them, win... and make things better for themselves and future generations of drivers in the process.

Examples of drivers winning lawsuits against trucking companies are fairly easy to find. Here's one... 19,000 truck drivers score up to $100 million in class-action suit
Click to expand...

Yes I remember the article you posted. Those drivers sued over something real.....being misclassified as ICs instead of employees is one thing. Suing over a lie told by a recruiter is another thing. Get over it. People lie and break promises all the time. We all know what it is in this industry. Dog eat dog world. I walked away from many bullies when I was growing up. It's all about picking and choosing your battles. I have to ask myself, "Is it worth it to fight this bully? Does me beating his ### or him beating mine really change opinions?" Its no shame in walking away from battles. Yes you may have have fought some of them but what did it really do besides create physical pain? That bully went home and didn't even think twice about you again. Walking away don't always make you yellow. More often than not, it makes you smart

bryan21384, Oct 20, 2019

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Traveling said: ↑

Because of the reality of it.
In an ideal world having the evidence of trucking company's wrongdoings makes a winning case, it sounds simple.

Bigger trucking companies have former DOT guys on their team, lawyers, experience from dealing with thousands of drivers, they are well met with how things go in the real world of trucking (FMCSA, DOT, courts, etc).

This is a cut/paste response from a USDOT/FMSCA Nebraska Division officer after I sent an example of how K & B Transportation clearly violated DOT hour rules (I sent detailed information, evidence supported with dispatch photos, messages, I even had voice recordings of phone talks):
"K&B must have though having a minor 14-hour violation was better than not getting their load delivered on time. This is their decision."

Nebraska officer justified a Nebraska-based company's violation of DOT hour rules but would he do the same if he stopped a truck driver and saw the driver's log show hour violations?! would he downplay the violations the same way calling them 'minor' and let the driver go without a fine?! would he have understanding for the truck driver who may have children at home who depend on him to earn more money that week because of unexpected medical bills, like he had understanding for the company (a business entity headquartered in Nebraska which pays state taxes and employs workers in Nebraska)?!

I told the Nebraska officer that the violations he acknowledged and defined as 'minor' happened during just 2 weeks I was with the company, there are 500+ drivers driving for the company, the company is notorious for violating 10-hour rule, the company does thousands of same violations a month. Nebraska officer told me if 50 drivers submit a complaint, it would be investigated further, this way it is only me and he dismissed my complaint (the main reason I reached out to the DOT/FMCSA was to protect me from K & B's retaliation).

Small percentage of truck drivers are proactive enough to take action against a trucking company. The day I left K & B Transportation, at the bus station I talked with another driver from my Orientation class who was leaving the company too. I asked him if he was aware of the drug test deduction no one told us about at the time we were being hired and if the company was paying him less miles than the pick-up/delivery distances driven. He told me the dollar amount deposited into his bank account is all he knew about his pay, he did not know if anything has been deducted from his pay or what number of miles he was being paid for. He never logged into his account on the company's portal, I showed him how to log in and check his pay stubs.

From this little bit of experience I have talking with other truck drivers employed by big trucking companies I worked for, hardly any truck driver will take the effort to reach out to the DOT/Dept. of Labor/lawyers being too busy driving for the next company to look back.

It seems in seldom cases the truck drivers group together, when they do it ends with a major class-action lawsuit.
Click to expand...

You are lucky he didn't give you a ticket "but they made me do it" it's not a defense.
No one can force you to violate the HOS.
Don't understand why people put themselves in situations like these. Everyone can do a research and find out who the good/bad companies are. I understand if you can't get hired with the company of your choice because of lack of experience or something on your record and have to go with less desirable company. Just do your time there until you gain experience or your record improves and move on.

SoCalRed, Oct 20, 2019

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