Major Court Decision in Trucking Industry
    A California Federal District Court in American Trucking Associations (ATA) v. The City of Los Angeles has snapped industry leaders to attention. The Court has given the green light to a Los Angeles Port (one of the top ports in the world) Program designed to regulate truck access to the Port to pickup or deliver cargo. One significant issue here is whether the Port Program flies in the face of truck deregulation and the federal preemption doctrine designed to prevent the states from regulating the "price, route or service of any motor carrier." The Court has used a number of theories to support the decision but the one that appears to bite the hardest is the Court's finding that preemption does not apply here based on the fact that the Port is a "market participant' because the Port adopted the program to sustain and promote Port operations. The Port Program requires trucking companies registered with the Port, among other things, to engage employee drivers and not independent contractors, to have environmentally sound equipment, to have specially designed placards visible on the trucks, and to have an off site parking program which avoids on street parking. You can bet that ATA will appeal this decision to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Bottoms Up - Here We Go Again
    The alcoholic beverage industry has been tightly regulated by federal and state regulations since the end of Prohibition in 1933 in the U.S. Complex state regulations under a "three tier system" control the marketplace for wine, beer and spirits. Very briefly, the system requires that licensed producers sell to licensed distributors (wholesalers) who sell to licensed retailers. Federal courts have however recently been upsetting the "apple cart" and in certain instances allowing direct sales from producer to consumer. Distributors are concerned that the three tier system will be changed and have been successful in having legislation introduced that will strengthen the ability of states to maintain the three tier system and curtail court challenges to regulation. There are significant industry players on both sides of the issues here.  The outcome of this legislative effort (HR 5034) will be interesting to follow.

Supreme Court Throws U.S. Shippers a Curve
    Here is the stage in "K" Lines v. Regal Beloit Corp. You are a U.S. company importing goods from Japan to your facilities in the U.S. You use an ocean carrier in Japan who in turn engages a rail carrier in the U.S. to complete the journey. There is a derailment in the U.S. which destroys your cargo. You file a suit in the U.S. against the rail carrier under a U.S. law called the Carmack Amendment. Sounds logical but hold on - it is not logical under the interpretation by the Supreme Court. Your supplier or your agent in Japan signed off on an international through bill of lading. The bill of lading provided for limited liability of the ocean carrier and any carrier it used in the U.S. under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act. The bill of lading also provided that if there was a controversy you needed to sue in Japan. In short the international bill of lading was golden and U.S. laws designed to protect shippers from cargo loss in the U.S. are not applicable to an international through movement. Have you checked your international carrier transactions lately?