N.C. Court Rules for Trucking Company in Dispute Over Weight Limit Fines

By Sarah Godfrey, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Jan. 28 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

A judge in North Carolina recently ruled in favor of a trucking company that sued the state for what it said were excessive fines assessed for minor weight limit permit violations.

Daily Express, a Carlisle, Pa., truckload carrier, argued in its suit that highway patrol officers in the state are not empowered to invalidate overweight permits based on lesser infractions related to those permits. A Superior Court judge Dec. 31 threw out a $24,492 fine levied against the company.

Mike Howard, vice president of operations for Daily Express, said that in June, a state trooper invalidated the overweight permit for a truck carrying 200,000 pounds because the truck had only one follow car, and North Carolina law requires two cars.

“When the driver arrived at the scale house, they took us to the legal weight on the shipment because he did not have a second escort,” Howard said. “Even though there was no weight infraction, they took us to legal weight because of the escort infraction.”

Howard said that although the trucking company is required to know all state laws, he was pleased with the court’s decision. “We do have to make sure we’re in compliance every bit, but unfortunately, this was an oversight by the driver,” he said. “Should that be a $5,000 violation or a $25,000 violation? The punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime.”

Susan Dunathan, a lawyer representing Daily Express in the case, said her Raleigh, N.C., firm has filed five other lawsuits on behalf of trucking companies protesting similar fines.

“The gist of these cases we’re involved with — and we’re involved with quite a few — is that the state highway patrol has been improperly invalidating special permits, based on violations of some other aspect of those permits not related to weight,” Dunathan said. “It sounds somewhat reasonable that if you don’t comply with the permit, it’s not valid. However, the key thing is, under state law, the highway patrol doesn’t have the authority to invalidate permits.”

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol did not respond to a request for comment before press time.

Dunathan also said that in most cases, the cited rigs are fined while at weigh stations while following correct procedures and that they have been fined for both the initial infraction, such as lacking the mandated number of escort cars, and for exceeding the basic license weight limit of 80,000 pounds.

“The situation really takes trucking companies by surprise — they’re just flabbergasted,” Dunathan added. “They’re uniformly really taken aback when they discover the penalty.”

Dunathan also said that the highway patrol should distinguish be-tween those companies that didn’t secure a special overweight permit at all and those who are either over the weight allowed by a special permit or guilty of a smaller permit-related infraction.

Charles Diehl, president of the North Carolina Trucking Association, said that though the fines haven’t been a problem for in-trastate truckers, the penalties do seem exorbitant.

“I agree that having up to a $25,000 fine for having one escort instead of two is excessive — that’s something that either the judicial branch or legislative branch will probably change,” Diehl said. “I am pleased that most of our members know what the law is. We encourage everyone to know the laws in every state where they operate, but obviously, there should be room for transgressions.”

Darrin Roth, director of highway operations for the Safety, Security and Operations division of American Trucking Associations, said he was concerned that the fines could be used to generate revenue.

“We would certainly hope that this is not a moneymaking venture by the state and that their focus is on enforcing the laws that contribute to the safety and quality of the state’s infrastructure,” Roth said.

Dunathan said the procedure for appealing fines is being reviewed.

“Under the law, as it was effective through the end 2007, trucking companies are required to pay the entirety of a fine first, then fight it. That’s a huge problem for trucking companies,” she said. “Several have told me that the size of those fines are hugely impactful to their business. That’s a difficult spot, if you’re a smaller company, to come up with the money.”