A Montana trucking company and freight brokerage has apparently shuttered operations, leaving nearly 275 truck drivers and office personnel without jobs, sources say.
Meadow Lark Transport Inc., of Billings, Montana, had 273 drivers and 337 power units at the time of its closure, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.
FMCSA data states the company’s broker authority was involuntarily revoked on Aug. 15 and its contract carrier authority is slated to be canceled on Oct. 28.
It’s unclear why the 40-year-old company was forced to shut its doors.
However, some motor carriers that hauled brokered loads for Meadow Lark claim they have been fighting to get paid for months.
In an email to carriers, Meadow Lark stated it is not accepting phone calls related to payment status but has “allocated all of our resources towards working on emails” sent to it.
“At Meadow Lark, we greatly value the relationships we have established with our Carrier Partners over our 40-year history,” Meadow Lark wrote in the email, which was obtained by FreightWaves. “We recognize the importance of timely payments and acknowledge that our account with you is overdue. Be assured that we are taking this matter very seriously and are committed to resolving this as promptly as possible.”
According to its website, Rick and Donna Jones started the asset-based 3PL in 1983.
In 2011, the Jones’ oldest daughter, Amanda “Mandy” Roth, purchased Meadow Lark from her parents.
In January, Roth said during an episode of “Take the Hire Road” that Meadow Lark had 40 terminals across the country and posted revenue of more than $200 million.
As of publication Thursday, Roth, who serves as CEO of Meadow Lark, had not responded to FreightWaves’ calls or messages seeking comment.
Legal woes
In June 2022, a former truck driver for Meadow Lark filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status over the company’s lease-driver business program, known as the “driving opportunity.”
The suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana alleges Meadow Lark failed to disclose material facts about the economics of its lease program. After paying their truck lease payments, fuel, maintenance and other expenses, the drivers “often had little or no compensation and sometimes even owed Meadow Lark money despite the long hours they worked as drivers,” the suit states.
Drivers also allege in the suit that Meadow Lark failed to pay them the “full promised 75% of the actual gross revenue that it received from its customers,” according to court filings.
No trial date has been set. However, the deadline for pretrial motions is set for Feb. 8, 2024.
This is a developing story.
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Gary B
We ran 2 loads for them in February and March, 2023 contacted them so many times by email and phone to get our payment but no luck they owe us $9400 , it’s just frustrating these people get away with some else’s hard earned money,
Jennifer Lesti
We ran a load for them on September 3. for $4,500. we are a small carrier and it’s incredibly frustrating that they lost their broker authority in August and still continued to book loads with carriers.
Melanie Wells
I was told over and over that I was going to be paid by Meadow Lark. I even have corrispondence with them on September 12 saying my invoice was in line for payment. I was given the run around so many times. Jump to today and I was told they’re out of buisness and you had to file a claim with their insruance company by August 31 to try and get your money. I am out of $600. This is beyond frustraiting. I see it happenening with more and more brokers and there is nothing that is ever done about it.
Darryn Howard
If you’re in the Transportation Industry you know that it is evolving at a rapid pace. The Government, Major Carriers, and the Tech sector/ Environmentalist will do whatever it takes to Push ALL the Independent operators and small companies out of their path to progress. I don’t like it either, but it is what it is 😔
James Murphy
I see a lot more companies folding. Freight is not like it used to be. I’m hearing this from another of companies
Lee Klass
More excellent reasons to avoid leasing a truck . Remember with these truck leasing operations . They always get their money first .The lease contractor driver always gets paid last ?
Joe Sunday
The Meadow Lark lawsuit story is nothing new. Bernie Brown who owned National Freight out of New Jersey (now NFI) was the guy that started all of this “lease-purchase we’ll put you in business” concept about 50 years ago. It caught on and many other drivers desperate to work for themselved went down the path of destruction…Midwestern Express ($ truck as it became known) is probably the biggest example. These carriers had no intention of ever seeing the poor drivers succeed. All they did was lease them the truck and when it got close to being paid off they suddenly “had no freight to dispatch”. Repossess the truck and start over with another fool. These carriers made as much money with the continual truck payment as they did with the freight revenue. Amazingly this cruel practice is still going on. They keep dangling the carrot and the rabbits go in the hole. Sad but as PT Barnum said “there’s a sucker born every minute”.
Dandee
Biden says hold on folks, it’s gonna get worse. I’m gonna see to it personally. Wonder when RTI is gonna lose there ass