We are very pleased to report that U.S. Federal District Court Judge Roger Benitez has GRANTED our motion for preliminary injunction in our AB 5 lawsuit. In his ruling, Judge Benitez wrote:
“There is little question that the State of California has encroached on Congress’ territory by eliminating motor carriers’ choice to use independent contractor drivers, a choice at the very heart of interstate trucking. In so doing, California disregards Congress’ intent to deregulate interstate trucking, instead adopting a law that produces the patchwork of state regulations Congress sought to prevent. With AB-5, California runs off the road and into the preemption ditch of the FAAAA.”
The State of California is enjoined from enforcing AB 5 against California motor carriers pending the entry of final judgement in this action. We will provide more information in the coming days about expected next steps, however, our hat is off to our excellent team of attorneys at Ogletree Deakins and Mayer Brown for their work in getting the trucking industry to this point and to the members who have financially supported this legal effort.