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Swift ordered to pay rival CRST more than $15 million in driver poaching lawsuit

Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

A federal jury ordered Swift Transportation, a unit of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX), to pay its trucking rival more than $15 million for allegedly poaching drivers who were under contract to CRST Expedited, which is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Iowa in March 2017, CRST claims Swift purposely recruited and hired drivers who had completed CRST’s driver training program to obtain their commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), but were still contractually obligated to work for the motor carrier for 10 months.

In the suit, CRST identified more than 250 drivers who had signed 10-month employment contracts with the carrier that were later recruited by Swift.

Starting in 2016, CRST claims it received more than 150 employment verification requests from Swift, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, for drivers who were still under contract to work for CRST. 


Court documents allege that each time CRST received an employment verification for one of its drivers still under contract, it sent correspondence to Swift, “notifying it of the driver’s contractual commitment to CRST.”

The jury found that Swift intentionally and improperly interfered with CRST drivers’ contracts, awarding it $3 million, $5 million in punitive damages and $7.5 million for unjust enrichment.

60 Comments

  1. Lonnie barnson

    Sounds like a form of human trafficking to me recruit from over seas. if u go to truck driving school they should pay there fees first not hold ppl hostage

  2. Robert Benoit

    Actually it’s not a binding contract. You can leave at any time. What the contract is, is a commitment to work for the company and not have to pay for the training which you otherwise would say at a CDL school.
    All of the big companies have this. Swift, Prime, CRST, Stevens Transport, Crete, C.R. England and others I probably forgot.
    If you leave after you get CDL but before the obligated time they can sue you for the breech of contract.
    I know this because I went through the training program at Prime in 2016. I became a trainer last year and several of my students quit after getting their CDL.

  3. E. S.

    A word from someone who has been around the trucking industry since the 60s. There isn’t a decent otr company out here. I remember when Swift actually charged a man 125.00 to APPLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Cripes. Guys. You are screwed around by shippers and receivers daily. Pay has not increased incrementally over the years and now with electronic logging you will make less money driving less miles with no pay increase. Win win for the company. No more log violations or fines regarding hours of service. Over the road is something to stay away from. Especially the 2 companies in this article

  4. Peter paul

    Not a swift fan or driver but if your drivers are filling out applications for other companies because they are feeling treated unfairly and under compisated. Why sue that company they had no obligations or contracts with crst.

Comments are closed.

Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 16 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to [email protected].