Waldo v. North American Van Lines, Inc.

102 F.R.D. 807, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 12, 1984
DocketCiv. A. No. 82-2668
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 102 F.R.D. 807 (Waldo v. North American Van Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waldo v. North American Van Lines, Inc., 102 F.R.D. 807, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004 (W.D. Pa. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

COHILL, District Judge.

Introduction

This matter is presently before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification. Plaintiff, Francis Waldo, a former truck driver, brought this action against his former employer, North American Van Lines, for alleged violations of section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, section 3 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 14, section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq., and the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices Act and Consumer Protection Law, 73 Pa.C.S.A. § 201-1 et seq. The Complaint was filed on December 13, 1982. Discovery on the class certification issue was conducted for approximately one year before we heard argument in February, 1984.

The Complaint

The Complaint in this action alleges that North American, as part of a conspiracy, 1) coerced truck drivers (“owner/operators”) into purchasing all of their insurance through North American as a condition of purchasing their motor vehicles; 2) required owner/operators, as a condition of purchasing their motor vehicles, to enter into exclusive dealing arrangements with North American; and 3) refused to allow owner/operators to “trip lease,” or contract with other carriers, thus boycotting the drivers in their businesses. (Complaint, ¶¶ 14-17; Plaintiffs Brief in Support of Motion for Class Certification, at 17-18). We consider the second and third issues to be related. See Plaintiffs Brief, at 25, “[the provision] for trip leasing existed on paper only and did not represent an alternative for drivers to avoid the effects of the tie-in arrangement that they were to drive exclusively for North American.”

Plaintiff seeks treble damages, a declaration that the insurance provisions of the agreements entered into between Plaintiff and Defendant are unlawful, and an injunction barring similar insurance and operating agreements in the future.

In order to determine the propriety of class certification, it is necessary first to review the background of plaintiffs complaint and the nature of his claims. Katz v. Carte Blanche Corp., 496 F.2d 747, 756-57 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 885, 95 S.Ct. 152, 42 L.Ed.2d 125 (1974). Background

Plaintiff, Francis Waldo, is a former owner/operator of a tractor trailer in a fleet operated by defendant, North American Van Lines, Inc. North American Van Lines is a motor common carrier operating under authority granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission and transports freight for hire on a nationwide basis. Owner/operators are independent contractors; a driver must own a truck to drive in the North American fleet. If a prospective driver does not own a truck, he or she may purchase one from North American. The truck trailer is leased back to North American for its exclusive use, and North American provides, in return, the trailers for transporting freight.

In 1978, Francis Waldo responded to a newspaper advertisement listing employment opportunities in trucking as an “owner/operator” with North American. After investigating several sources from which to buy a truck, Plaintiff decided to participate in North American’s lqase/purchase plan. He attended a one-week training program at Fort Wayne, Indiana. During the training program, two agreements were distributed to the participants. They were 1) a Conditional Sales Contract/Security Agreement; and 2) a Truckman’s Agreement. Plaintiff signed the two agreements on July 27, 1978. The Truckman’s Agreement was superceded, in 1979, by a Contractor Operating Agreement, with substantially similar terms. Plaintiff signed this Agreement on August 30, 1979.

[810]*810 Exclusive Dealing Provisions

The 1978 Truckman’s Agreement provided that the operator would (1) lease the tractor unit to North American for its exclusive use; and 2) that the Company would agree to furnish and license a trailer for use with each tractor unit (Truckman’s Agreement, 11111, 2).

The 1979 Contractor Operating Agreement added the additional provision that the Contractor would have the right to “trip lease” with other Carriers, subject to North American’s approval (Contractor Operating Agreement, ¶ 4).

Insurance Provisions

Both the 1978 and 1979 agreements provided for certain necessary types of insurance coverage. The 1978 Agreement provided that the Contractor agreed “to maintain and keep in force, or that Company may do so at Truckman’s expense, property damage and liability insurance in amounts from time to time to be determined by the Company____” (Truckman’s Agreement, U16). The 1979 Contractor Operating Agreement provided, in more detail, that the required insurance consisted of coverage for 1) bodily injury/property damage/cargo loss or damage resulting from negligence of the owner/operator; 2) bodily injury/property damage resulting when the tractor is operated without a trailer attached (“bobtail” coverage); and 3) trailer loss or damage resulting from the negligence of the owner/operator. (Contractor Operating Agreement, ¶ 16). Inserted following the first requirement listed in the Contractor Operating Agreement is the language “Contractor agrees to be charged for this protection ... unless Contractor provides Carrier with written notice declining said insurance program accompanied by evidence that Contractor has purchased elsewhere equivalent insurance that is satisfactory to Carrier____” Substantially similar language follows the other two provisions. See id. If 16.

Plaintiffs Employment

Plaintiff alleges that, at the one-week training course in Fort Wayne, a NAVL representative discussed with Plaintiff’s training class the required insurance as well as the terms of the Operating Agreement to be signed before the owner/operators received the tractor trailers for which they had contracted. The representative allegedly stated that North American would provide insurance for tractors, trailers, health, life, and disability because it could obtain lower premiums for the drivers than would otherwise be available. (Plaintiff’s Brief in Support of Class Certification, at 12). Plaintiff alleges that he and the other prospective owner/operators felt compelled to accept this insurance plan because the company already had in its possession the down payments on the trucks. Id.

Plaintiff alleges that, in 1979, 1) North American began increasing the insurance premiums; 2) the frequency of the loads made available to plaintiff and other drivers decreased; 3) North American directed drivers to travel empty to locations where they then remained for two or three days; and 4) North American denied plaintiff over twenty trip-leases which were available to him through independent brokers. Id. at 16.

Plaintiff alleges that, because of these reasons, his financial condition began to deteriorate in 1979-80.

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Bluebook (online)
102 F.R.D. 807, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15004, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waldo-v-north-american-van-lines-inc-pawd-1984.