The Massachusetts Delivery Association and Customized Logistics and Delivery Association Win Decision on Use of Independent Contractors

BOSTON, July 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A Massachusetts trade association has won the right to use independent contractors according to a judgment announced yesterday by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  The ruling overturns the court's 2013 ruling to the contrary. 

The Massachusetts Delivery Association (MDA) represents 50 customized logistics and delivery companies in the Commonwealth.  The ruling upholds FAAAA pre-emption of state laws that effectively ban the use of independent contractors in the same day delivery market, allowing their ability to use independent contractors both to meet fluctuating customer demands for on-demand deliveries, and to staff regularly scheduled deliveries.

"This ruling is a victory for everyone in the motor carrier industry that relies on independent contractors to satisfy fluctuating demand.  Had the 2013 ruling been affirmed it would have had a severe impact on our labor costs and force many of our members to either increase their prices to consumers or go out of business," says MDA President Aaron J. Driben.  "We fought that decision because we knew that once the court considered both the facts and their own past decisions they would favor our ability to use independent contractors to meet customer demands efficiently and cost-effectively.  We prevailed in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014 on related issues, and we felt confident that that decision laid the groundwork for this ruling."

Because of the national importance of this appeal, the MDA formed a partnership with a national trade association, the Customized Logistics and Delivery Association.  "We gave our full support legislatively and financially to this fight by the Massachusetts Delivery Association to protect the independent contractor business model for delivery and other trucking companies nationwide," says CLDA President, Kirk Godby. "Yesterday's ruling will benefit not only those delivering goods, but retailers, consumers and the economy as a whole."

"We are very pleased that the district court has enforced the will of Congress in the MDA case: that the transportation of product in the American marketplace by air and by ground is to be regulated by the federal government alone," says MDA's attorney David Casey,

Co-Chair, Appellate Practice Group, Littler Mendelson, P.C.  "This case will enable those in the courier and trucking industries to choose the business models that are most efficient and responsive to the needs of the American business community and American consumers without interference from the 50 states."

The case was remanded to the Federal District Court from the First Circuit Court of Appeals on September 30^th, 2014.

SOURCE Customized Logistics and Delivery Association