Court Rejects Injunction in L.A. Port Plan
A federal court ruling on the Port of Los Angeles’ clean trucks plan will not significantly affect a lower court ruling that temporarily halts the port from implementing most of the port’s concession requirements, according to American Trucking Associations.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday to allow the port to continue enforcing certain motor vehicle safety-related provisions contained in its concession plans.
The ruling did not change a previous court decision to allow owner-operators to continue operating at the port. The port had sought to only allow drivers who were employees of trucking companies.
The court agreed with ATA that the port should not require drayage trucks to display information on placards other than Department of Transportation requirements.
ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce said the overall ruling was “not significant. It doesn’t change the status quo at all,” he said. “We’ve already won the bulk of the case.”
While port officials hailed the ruling as a positive affirmation of their concession plan requirements, Boyce said it had little overall effect on the case, which is scheduled for trial in mid-March in Los Angeles federal court.
Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to make oral arguments Thursday in district court pertaining to summary judgment motions filed by both ATA and the port.
ATA had previously asked the court to find in its favor the legal issue of whether the port’s concession agreement has a sufficient impact on motor carrier rates, routes and services to fall within a federal pre-emption provision.
Summary judgment is a procedural device that allows a court to decide some or all of the legal issues involved in a case prior to trial if there is no legitimate dispute as to the material facts surrounding those issues.
By Eric Miller (Click here for previous coverage.)
Staff Reporter
