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Thirty days means 30 days: Appeals court rules for hauler against trucker

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

In a decision regarding payments between an independent owner-operator and the trucking company that hired their services, the words of a federal appellate court judge may be sound advice for all drivers: “Trust, but verify.”

Judge Joel Flaum noted the phrase — which he said is of Russian origin but popularized by President Ronald Reagan, who put Flaum on the bench — in denying driver Michael Stampley’s lawsuit alleging Altom Transport underpaid him. Altom’s website describes it as a hauler of chemicals and petroleum, based in Indiana.

Stampley was appealing a lower court ruling that denied his claim he should be paid more from Altom in a dispute that centered on two issues. One is uncontested: that Altom billed its customers for tank washes, but the payments Altom received for that were not part of the base amount of revenue that would be used to calculate Stampley’s 70% share to be paid to him. The second issue, and the one that ultimately is what cost Stampley in court, is whether Stampley objected in time. (The decision did not specify any of the sums in question).

The decision handed down last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit spells out the history of the relationship between Stampley and Altom. Under the provisions of the Truth in Leasing regulations that are part of federal trucking law, Altom is required to supply its drivers with “a copy of the rated freight bill, or in the case of contract carriers, any other form of documentation actually used for a shipment containing the same information that would appear on a rated freight bill.” The contract between Stampley and Altom included a provision that Stampley could be given a computer-generated version of the freight bills that it sent to the customers for whom Stampley was hauling freight.


But there was another provision: Stampley had 30 days in which to review the receipts “to contest, in writing, the information contained on any rated freight bill or computer-generated document.” And if he didn’t do so, he “shall waive all rights to contest the validity or accuracy of any/all payments made pursuant to this (section),” according to the wording in the contract republished in the court decision.

The problem with the tank washes, according to the court decision, is that there was nothing about them in the receipts provided to Stampley. And the revenue from these tank washes was not included in the “gross” revenues of which Stampley was entitled to receive 70%.”

But Stampley did not challenge his pay in the 30-day period, a process whereby he might have been able to get a better picture of what Altom was charging shippers for tank washes. As the home page of Bulk Connection, a tanker broker, says about tank washes, “the tank or trailer and equipment used to transport the product must be thoroughly washed and dried before it can be used again to haul another product.”

Stampley did ultimately discover the omission, though the decision does not say how long it took. But it clearly wasn’t within 30 days, leading to the lawsuit.


The original suit tried to bring in other drivers by having it certified as a class action. That attempt failed in the lower court. So did Stampley’s individual claim, on the grounds that he failed to challenge the receipts for his work within the 30 days in the contract.

There is no dispute about the 30-day provision in the contract. Stampley did have a right to see not only the computer-generated invoice that he did receive, but also to examine “the source documents from which such computer-generated information was compiled at Altom’s home office during reasonable business hours.”

But he didn’t do that. As the court said, Stampley “never disputed or requested to view the source documents within 30 days.” But he argues that the 30-day clause doesn’t apply because the computer-generated document didn’t have the same information as the freight bills, which would have detailed the tank washes.

The decision says Stampley knew about the washes; he just didn’t know they weren’t part of the base against which the 70% was calculated. Although it is unclear when Stampley found out about the washes’ omission in the bill, it appears to be relatively soon. Part of the dispute is when the 30-day clock began, and the two sides’ argument on that seems to indicate a relatively short period before Stampley saw the light. The court sided with Altom’s interpretation of when the 30-day clause began.

And that’s when Flaum comes back to his original recommendation: Trust, but verify. Had Stampley availed himself of the ability to review the documents in the 30-day window, “he could have challenged [the washes’] exclusion, so long as he did so within thirty days of each payment,” the judge wrote. “By choosing simply to trust the documents he received and not to verify them, or challenge the exclusion of tank wash funds from his payment until long after the 30-day period expired, Stampley has forfeited his opportunity to do so now.”

Emails sent by FreightWaves to the attorneys for Altom and Stampley were not responded to by publication time.

20 Comments

  1. J.B. Hunt transportation

    Readers should refer to the J.B. & Johnelle Hunt. You tube documentary which speaks of the Hauler and getting paid for loads. From his early starts as a independent hauler to there roles as transportation owners paying for hauls. They accumulated a lot of wealth from hard times to good times leaving a multi billion dollar empire to his reported estranged interracial grandson Towery M Burris-Hunt. His estate trust settled in Cleveland County NC.

  2. Lil 🚬

    By simply choosing to trust the document and not verify it led to this negative situation and is a common example of what happens when you dont double check or use due diligence. Take time to make sure what is what. Refer to contract law. J.B. Hunt transportation founder Johnny Bryan Hunt you tube documentary tells a story about the days a hand shake was bonding and how he would just haul the loads and the money would come in. Contrary Johnelle Hunt speaks of having to sometimes go get the money owed. Haulers & Company have to use standard guidelines an bonding contracts today. Johnny Bryan Hunt estate trust was settled in 2013 naming Towery “Tyree” M tvBurris-Hunt beneficiary left to succeed at the company. He appreciates his reported granddad but “Thank God Johnelle was there to get the contracts.”

  3. Lil 🚬

    By simply choosing to trust the document and not verify it led to this negative situation and is a common example of what happens when you dont double check or use due diligence. Take time to make sure what is what. Refer to contract law. J.B. Hunt transportation founder Johnny Bryan Hunt you tube documentary tells a story about the days a hand shake was bonding and how he would just haul the loads and the money would come in. Contrary Johnelle Hunt speaks of having to sometimes go get the money owed. Haulers & Company have to use standard guidelines an bonding contracts today. Johnny Bryan Hunt estate trust was settled in 2013 naming Towery “Tyree” M Burris-Hunt beneficiary left to succeed at the company. He appreciates his reported granddad but “Thank God Johnelle was there to get the contracts.”

  4. Lil 🚬

    By simply choosing to trust the document and not verify it led to this negative situation and is a common example of what happens when you dont double check or use due diligence. Take time to make sure what is what. Refer to contract law. J.B. Hunt transportation founder Johnny Bryan Hunt you tube documentary tells a story about the days a hand shake was bonding and how he would just haul the loads and the money would come in. Contrary Johnelle Hunt speaks of having to sometimes go get the money owed. Haulers & Company have to use standard guidelines an bonding contracts today. Johnny Bryan Hunt estate trust was settled in 2013 naming Towery “Tyree” M Burris-Hunt beneficiary left to succeed at the company. He appreciates his reported granddad but “Thank God Johnelle was there to get the contracts.”

  5. Rick MurrayGoogle

    It’s a hard lesson to learn. But, the contract stated that he had 30 days to contest the settlement. The fact that he neglected to do so is his tough toenails. I’m reasonably sure this driver is going to read ALL of the documentation he gets, and not if there are any time limits for disputes in the future. I know it stinks. But, how many washouts did he get diddled out of, and it was only 70% of that amount anyway. Speaking as a former O/O, I’ve been there too.

    1. Norman Black

      It is ridiculous to find a company stealing from the driver/owner operator then base a ruling on a 30 day notice. It could take years to discover that someone you’re in a contract with is stealing from you, in which statues of limitations are suspended, as in the Emron scandal and OOIDA vs. Landstar. What this boils down to is a federal judge catering to a richer entity. The truth was revealed but no justice was served. Rich Truck Brokers do this everyday, year round, no fear of reprisals.

  6. Mike Carnes

    Either way, the trucking industry is a dog eat dog world. When it comes to revenue, the rates are less than in the beginning of the 70’s when comparing the dollar from then to now. Everyone is making a huge profit like the insurance companies, tires and maintenance, cost of equipment, multiple brokered freight, terrible treatment by shippers and receivers, ridiculous high costs of fuel, over regulated, large companies hauling super cheap freight, so-called back hauls of freight, (always refused cheap freight and came back empty, companies cheating drivers of pay wether company or owner operator, rip off leases that put all of the burden of costs on the driver hoping on failure to release the equipment multiple times, most trucks tops are crapholes with lousey fast food, no overtime pay, not barely enough layover and detention pay if any, and the list goes on and on. There is no future in the industry leaving company and owner operators living in poverty after costs and when hours working and away from home is far less than minimum wage. There is some union positions that still make a decent living, but they are steadily disappearing. Thankful on being retired with absolutely not looking back at the crap drivers put up with on a day to day basis.

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.