(Grain Valley, Mo., )  The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the largest national association representing professional truckers, is pleased with a tentative settlement with Supervalu, Inc.

The Association, along with Joe Rajkovacz and Carl Schaefer Jr., are the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit that accused a grocery retail giant of coercive unloading practices. If approved by the court, the settlement would permanently enjoin Supervalu from certain practices. Because the case is a class action, it cannot be settled without court approval.

The legal action, filed in 2005 in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, challenged Supervalu’s policy of requiring drivers to show proof of insurance coverage grossly over and above what was required by federal statute and regulation. Without that insurance, truckers had no choice but to use the only unloading service available (known as lumping) to unload Supervalu’s cargo; they could not unload it themselves. Lumping can mean truckers have to pay out-of-pocket.

OOIDA member and plaintiff Joe Rajkovacz described the outcome as “one that bears hefty significance for truck drivers.

"For all truckers, this settlement means that the practice by receivers to post ludicrous insurance requirements as a method of forcing them to pay for unloading is a violation of the unloading statute," he said.

The proposed settlement contemplates the entry of an injunction and will allow the Association to move forward with an appeal. That appeal includes, among others, a district court ruling that the unloading statute does not provide a remedy of restitution (reimbursement) for wrongly required payments by drivers to lumpers and the deferring until after the appeal of any award of attorney fees. 

In addition, the parties jointly will request the court to provide preliminary approval of the terms of the settlement, order notice of its terms be provided to the class, and set a date for a 'fairness hearing' at which time any members of the class opposing the settlement may be heard. 

"Those in the supply-chain that view truckers as a profit center when it comes to unloading would be wise to reconsider their policies," said Rajkovacz, anticipating a speedy approval by the court.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the largest national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has nearly 160,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, Mo., area.