ATA seeks widespread injunction on L.A. truck plan

ATA seeks widespread injunction on L.A. truck plan    The American Trucking Association last week filed papers with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, arguing that a U.S. district judge’s decision to enjoin part of the Port of Los Angeles’ clean truck concession program did not go far enough.
   According to an item Friday in the Southern California maritime journal the Cunningham Report, the port is requiring trucking companies, including independent owner-operators, to apply for a concession to work in the port’s terminals. A list of safety and environmental requirements must be met to qualify for the concession.
   In late April, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder ruled that portions of Los Angeles’ truck program — most notably a requirement that trucking companies operating in the ports must hire only employee drivers rather than independent owner-operators — were to be stopped. Snyder initially ruled in September that the concession programs in Los Angeles and Long Beach (whose plan did not mandate the hiring of employee drivers) were legal, but in March a federal appeals court overturned her ruling.
   ATA is arguing that Snyder should have granted them an injunction on the concession programs in their entirety. Snyder, in her decision, said she did not enjoin elements of the concession programs that related to motor carrier safety issues. The association said in its papers that Snyder’s decision failed to account for the fact that the port doesn’t have the regulatory authority to pull an operating license for an interstate trucking company, among other issues.
   A trial date for a lawsuit filed against the concessions has been arranged for December.