OOIDA refiles motion for injunction against AB5

The owner of a motor carrier in Texas says his company stopped operating in California because of the state’s burdensome regulations and laws, including Assembly Bill 5.

Last week, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association refiled a preliminary injunction request against the controversial worker classification law. Included in the refiled motion with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California is a declaration from Clark Freight Lines owner Danny Schnautz.

California’s AB5 codified the ABC Test, which makes it more difficult for a worker to be considered an independent contractor.

OOIDA says the law violates the Commerce Clause, which protects the right to engage in interstate commerce free of undue burdens and discrimination by state governments.

“(OOIDA) seeks a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of Assembly Bill 5 as to those motor carriers who operate in interstate commerce or, in the alternative as to motor carriers whose drivers are not based in California and spend less than 50% of their working time in California,” the Association wrote in the motion.

Schnautz, who also is an OOIDA Board member, told the court that his Pasadena, Texas-based company previously ran between eight and 10 loads in and out of California for up to $50,000 in revenue each week.

However, he said the uncertainty of whether or not California’s law would apply to out-of-state motor carriers has forced them to stop operating in the state and has led them to miss out on that revenue.

OOIDA serving as intervenor

The California Trucking Association began the lawsuit against the ABC Test in October 2018.

Last year, OOIDA was allowed to join the case as an intervenor.

The ruling meant that OOIDA was allowed to join the California Trucking Association’s fight against the state’s controversial worker classification law. Although the California Trucking Association represents motor carriers of various sizes in California, OOIDA represents small-business truck drivers who reside in California, as well as those who haul freight in and out of the state.

OOIDA is asking for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of AB5. California has until March to respond to motions from OOIDA and the California Trucking Association, and a hearing is scheduled for May. LL