A Georgia trucking company has filed a class-action lawsuit against Pilot Flying J, claiming it was duped in fuel-rebate program by the national truck stop chain, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Monday.
Atlantic Coast Carriers, a small trucking company based in Hazlehurst, Ga., said in its lawsuit that Pilot Flying J “benefited from inaccurate rebate procedures for certain clients, including Atlantic Coast and several other clients,” the newspaper reported.
The suit was filed in Knox County, Tenn., Circuit Court on Saturday. It alleges several trucking companies were defrauded in actions “involving millions of dollars,” the Plain Dealer said.
Federal agents from the FBI and IRS raided Pilot Flying J’s Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters last week. Marshall Stone, a supervisory special agent of FBI’s Knoxville office, told Transport Topics that he could not comment on the nature of the investigation.
Pilot Flying J owner Jimmy Haslam, who also owns the Cleveland Browns football team, told investigators he “read the affidavits [and] now understand[s] more clearly the questions the federal investigators are exploring.”
“I maintain that the foundation of this company is built on its integrity and that any willful wrongdoing by any employee of this company at any time is intolerable. We will continue to cooperate with the federal investigation and continue our own investigation in these allegations,” Haslam said in a statement.
“I value the relationships we have with our customers, our vendors and our team members across this country and regret that they have to go through this with us, but I trust and believe their faith in this company and its principles has never been misplaced,” Haslam said in the statement, which was released late last week.
