Despite recent court ruling, Calif.’s A.B. 5 still on hold for carriers
California’s A.B. 5 law, enacted Jan. 1, 2020, and largely interpreted as essentially outlawing traditional leasing arrangements between fleets and owner-operators based in the state, had a small victory in court recently. While trucking has been operating under an exemption from the rule pending further litigation challenging it, a California state-level appellate court bucked a federal court ruling and said that A.B. 5 does apply to motor carrier employers.
That decision, however, is of little import, at least at present, says Bob Roginson, a partner at the law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart and one of the attorneys overseeing the California Trucking Associations’ lawsuit against A.B. 5’s enforcement in trucking. While CTA’s suit plays out, as previously noted, a U.S. District Court based in Los Angeles this year ruled that A.B. 5 can’t be enforced upon motor carriers until CTA’s litigation is resolved. That injunction on enforcement “remains in place until it is no longer in place,” said Roginson, “regardless of what the state court says.”
