ATA, Port of L.A. File Final Court Briefs Over Use of Owner-Operators

American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles have completed filing written legal arguments over the port’s attempted ban on independent owner-operators.

ATA asked the appeals court to reverse the decision of U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, who ruled in September that the port had the right to ban independent operators because it acted as a business, or “market participant,” and not as a regulator in adopting its diesel emissions-reduction plan.

In October, Snyder temporarily blocked implementation of her ruling until ATA’s appeal is resolved. She agreed with ATA that motor carriers needed lead time to alter their business plans after the appeals court’s decision.

According to a schedule set by Peter Shaw, an appellate commissioner with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, now that all the briefs have been filed, the case will be set for oral arguments in California “as soon as possible.”