ATA Files Brief in Port of L.A. Case

Trucking Group Says Lower Court Ruling Flawed
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Port of Los Angeles

American Trucking Associations told a U.S. Appeals Court that a lower court misinterpreted several sections of federal law in an August ruling that backed a ban on owner operators by the Port of Los Angeles.

The appeal, made in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said that the U.S. District Court ruling contained “fundamental legal errors.”

Those errors included contradictions of established precedents, including issues relating to safety, maintenance and the port’s legal status which should be a government agency rather than a participant in the drayage market, ATA argued.

ATA has challenged the concession provisions of the port’s clean trucks plan, and the port initially won a victory when Judge Christina Snyder upheld its ban of owner-operators.



But a higher court granted an injunction to ATA in October that kept the Port of Los Angeles open to independent contractors while ATA appealed that decision.

The port’s reply brief is due by Jan. 31 and ATA’s reply is due about two weeks after that.