FMC Asks Court to Dismiss its SoCal Ports Suit
The Federal Maritime Commission said Tuesday it is asking a federal court to dismiss FMC’s legal challenge to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., over the sister ports’ clean-trucks plans.
FMC said its suit had become moot “due to intervening events in the [American Trucking Associations] litigation over which the commission had no influence or control.”
ATA in April said that the ruling would not affect ATA’s separate suit against the ports to block the ports’ concession plan.
While it did not oppose the plan to ban old trucks from the two ports, ATA filed a lawsuit in district court in Los Angeles last July attempting to block implementation of the business model being used — particularly one at the Port of Los Angeles that banned independent operators from drayage operations.
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in April denied FMC’s request for a preliminary injunction to remove certain parts of the agreement that the commission believed to anti-competitive, while permitting the ports to implement those elements of the plans that produce clean air and improve public health.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has scheduled a December hearing for arguments in ATA’s lawsuit after temporarily blocking some provisions of the ports’ concession plan.
By Transport Topics
Staff Reporter Eric Miller contributed to this story.
