24 | April | 2016 | Chapman Glucksman

Total Transportation Gets Hauled Away

Apr 24 2016

How Worker Demands are Changing the Transportation Industry

By: David A. Napper and Neil A. Eddington
April 24, 2016

Total Transportation Services, Inc. (“TTSI”), a prominent drayage hauler out of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy filing is the direct result of workers’ demands for employee designation.¹

For many years, drayage hauling – the short-distance transport of goods from local ports –functioned primarily through an “owner-operator” business model where drivers contracted to perform services using trucks they either own or lease. As a result, the drivers had always been characterized as independent contractors not employees. However, in 2010, after the IRS ruled a single TTSI driver was an employee, other TTSI drivers began to resist the model, filing their own suits to garner employee designation.² For companies like TTSI, litigation expenses have piled up and led to bankruptcy; for the drayage hauling industry, the viability of its business model is in doubt.

Private Mediations Do Not Toll The Five-Year Prosecution Statute

Apr 24 2016

By: Zachary P. Marks
April 24, 2016

If you thought private mediation could toll the five-year period for case prosecution – think again. In a recent decision handed down by the Second District Court of Appeal, the court unequivocally held that voluntary, private mediations do not toll the five-year period before dismissal for failure to bring an action to trial.

California Code of Civil Procedure section 583.310 sets forth the applicable rule: “[a]n action shall be brought to trial within five years after the action is commenced against the defendant.” Section 1775.7(b) clarifies this rule, stating that the five-year period can be tolled if it is “submitted to mediation” within the final six months of the five-year period. However, the Code is silent with respect to the effect of tolling on public versus private mediations.

CPAs’ Audit Report and Qualified Opinion Did Not Cause Company’s Or Investors’ Losses Where There Was No Evidence Of Reasonable Reliance

Apr 24 2016

By: Kacey R. Riccomini
April 24, 2016

Accountants can breathe easier after Mosier v. Stonefield Josephson, Inc., CPAs (9th Cir., Feb. 23, 2016, No. 13-56453) 2016 WL 703104. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, found that Stonefield, an accounting firm that was hired by PEMGroup and its related entities to audit financial statements, did not cause PEMGroup or its investors’ losses where there was no evidence the company or its investors actually or reasonably relied on the CPAs’ audit report, particularly when PEMGroup’s management defrauded investors and Stonefield issued qualified opinions of PEMGroup’s financial statements. Going forward, the Ninth Circuit’s decision will greatly impact professional liability suits against accountants, among others.

The Growing Threat of Automobile Cyber-Attacks

Apr 24 2016

By: Grace A. Nguyen and Alexandra R. Rambis
April 24, 2016

A number of breaches at high profile companies such as Target, Neiman Marcus, Home Depot and JP Morgan has pushed data security into the spotlight. Large companies, however, are not the only businesses susceptible to data breaches. Data security has now become a priority for the auto industry. While the technology in cars has become increasingly more sophisticated, it has also left automobiles vulnerable to the threat of cyber-attacks. In 2015, as an experiment, two researchers were able to hack into a Jeep Cherokee wirelessly.¹ After hacking into the car, they were able to disable the car’s brakes, honk the horn, commandeer the steering wheel, turn off the car’s ignition, and could even track the car’s GPS coordinates and trace its route.

Archive - April 24, 2016

How Worker Demands are Changing the Transportation Industry