Court Backs ABF in Reversing Appeal Dismissal
A federal appeals court Wednesday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of ABF Freight System’s suit against YRC Worldwide and the Teamsters union, sending the case back to district court for “further proceedings.”
The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to overturn a ruling by District Judge Susan Webber Wright in Arkansas, who in December had tossed ABF’s appeal, saying ABF lacked legal standing in the case.
ABF — the less-than-truckload unit and largest operating unit of Arkansas Best Corp. — said in a statement that it was “very pleased with this decision and looks forward to further proceedings on its lawsuit seeking to level the playing field for all parties of the National Master Freight Agreement.”
In its original lawsuit filed in November, ABF claimed that union concessions granted to YRC under YRC’s agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters were not allowed under the NMFA.
ABF sought to have a lower court order the creation of an appropriate grievance review committee to resolve the dispute, or to have the contract amendments benefiting only YRC declared null and void by the court, as it said were required under the NMFA.
ABF also sought an award of monetary damages of about $750 million, and said Wednesday that it “will continue to seek that relief on remand.”
In a statement, YRC Worldwide said it “maintains that the claims are without merit and we are confident we will prevail in district court. We believe the decision today will have no impact on our restructuring efforts and we continue to move forward toward completion as previously announced.”
Teamsters spokesman Galen Munroe said in an e-mailed statement that the union “is currently analyzing it next course of action, including whether to seek a hearing before the full 8th Circuit.”
YRC is ranked No. 4 is ranked No. 4 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, while Arkansas Best Corp. is No. 16. YRC has the second-largest LTL operation in the U.S. and Canada, while ABF has the fifth-largest.
