The Chartwell Chronicles: Trucking
Case In Point: Recent Developments in Employment Law
On April 28, 2025, President Donald Trump published an executive order (“EO”) requiring the secretary of transportation to overhaul the compliance process of certifying a commercial driver’s English proficiency. As set forth...more
This week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a slew of proposed rule changes—18 in all—designed to streamline operations, reduce unnecessary paperwork, and align regulations with modern...more
In January 2025, the Trump Administration will take office, and it is anticipated that President-Elect Donald J. Trump's second term will lead to significant regulatory changes generally. In his first term, President Trump...more
Motor carriers and private fleet operators need to weigh several critical factors when deciding where to register and plate their motor vehicles and equipment (trailers, flatbeds, tanker units, etc.). Selecting the right...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) on November 20, 2024,titled Transparency in Property Broker Transactions (89 FR 91648). ...more
For-hire and private motor carriers face unique compliance and operations challenges that many other business or company functions do not encounter. Operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) for your business, or as your...more
Beginning January 1, 2024, California intrastate motor carriers and drivers will be required to use an electronic logging device (“ELD”) as generally required by the federal ELD regulations adopted under 49 CFR § 395, Subpart...more
Providers and commercial users of transportation services necessarily rely upon the predictability and uniformity afforded by national laws and regulations to support the efficient and reliable supply chains that are so...more
Federal regulators—as well as the marketplace itself—have been scrutinizing the role of certain types of “transportation intermediaries” in the industry. One point of focus has been the role of longstanding models such as...more
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on Jan. 5, 2023, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to implement financial security requirements on brokers and freight forwarders. The proposed changes to...more
On February 1, 2023, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) restarted the process it began in 2017, requesting comments from stakeholders in a supplemental advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (SANPRM)...more
In early 2021, the 9th Circuit upheld federal preemption of California’s meal and rest break laws for interstate motor carrier drivers, in the consolidated case of International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Federal Motor...more
In a regulatory victory, interstate household goods movers recently saw the universe of required paperwork reduce by one key document. In 2017, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) convened a Federal...more
On June 10, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) issued a notice and request for comments in Docket No. 2022-134 to assist the agency in issuing guidance by November 15, 2022, in response to the...more
H.R. 3684 of the 117th Congress passed the U.S. Senate on August 10 with a vote of 69-30. This bipartisan infrastructure legislation would make historic investments without increasing taxes, authorizing $550 billion in new...more
The possibility of a shipper being found liable to a third party who is injured by allegedly improperly loaded freight is an evolving one. Historically, the onus of responsibility, and liability, for loading freight has been...more
This Holland & Knight Transportation Blog post provides an update on several developments of interest that impact motor carriers and their logistics operations. FMCSA Meal and Rest Break Rule Preempts California's "ABC...more
Ninth Circuit decision upholds the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA") determination that federal law preempts California’s meal and rest break laws with respect to Department of Transportation-regulated...more
Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a Proclamation declaring a regional emergency for Arkansas pursuant to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) regulations at 49 C.F.R. § 390.23. Parts 390 to 399 of the...more
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that FMCSA’s rest break regulations preempt the California meal and rest break rules (CA MRB Rules). The...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) determination that federal law preempts California’s meal and rest break requirements as to drivers of...more
In one of the year’s most anticipated court decisions for the trucking industry, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 2785, et al. v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, No. 19-70413 (January 15, 2021), the...more
After a decade of ups and downs on the question of federal preemption, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (“FMSCA”) decision to preempt California’s meal and rest...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on January 15 upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (“FMCSA”) determination that federal law preempted California’s meal and rest break rules (“MRB...more
In trucking cases, plaintiff’s lawyers like to use the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (“FMCSRs”) against trucking companies and their drivers. Sometimes the FMCSRs are used to argue that truck drivers are...more