9/01/2010
IdleAire Re-Opens Some Sites
The new owner of IdleAire, Convoy Solutions, LLC, announced Aug. 25 that it was reopening nine sites, with plans to reopen more in the near future.
In a press release the company said three more sites would be re-opened within a month and 7 additional sites would be opened in the “near future.”
Under previous ownership, IdleAire had offered cab-off services such as HVAC, TV, and Internet access at over 100 locations but filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and ceased operations altogether in January of this year.
Comdata Lawsuit Update
07/20/2010
Comdata Lawsuit Litigants Await Key Decisions
Following a judge’s order in March to combine two separate suits brought by independent truck stop operators against Comdata and the major truck stop chains, parties to the suit are waiting on two more key decisions in the case. After consolidating the two cases and dismissing motions filed by Comdata parent Ceridian Corp. and the major truck stop chains to dismiss the case, U.S. District Judge James K. Gardner allowed those defendants to file motions to dismiss the consolidated case, which all have done.
Participants in the case expect the judge to rule on these motions within the next several weeks. If the motions to dismiss are denied again, the judge will then rule on whether or not to certify the lawsuit as a class action, which would extend the court’s ruling to other “similarly situated” independent operators.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Pat Marchbanks, who operates Bear Mountain Travel Stop in Bakersfield, said he was “cautiously optimistic,” about the prospects for the case. “As a plaintiff, I am encouraged with the ruling in March,” Marchbanks said, noting that the case was “back on track,” with depositions and discovery ongoing.
The first lawsuit against Comdata was filed in the spring of 2007, with Marchbanks named as plaintiff. In July of that year, additional lawsuits were also filed against Comdata. These cases were folded into the first suit.
Independents truck stop operators resorted to filing the suit after failing to achieve an agreement with Comdata to amend the company’s two-tier transaction fee structure which it implemented in 1999 and 2000. Prior to implementing the new fee structure, Comdata charged all truck stops a flat rate per transaction involving Comdata’s fleet card billing system. The two-tier structure retained a flat rate for the national chains, but independent truck stops were hit with a fee based on a percentage of the total amount of each sale, which increased transaction fees for independents by more than 100 percent, in most cases, and by much more in others. Comdata argued its fee structure was reasonable, given the fact it cost the company more to administer the system for independent operators as opposed to the chains. Plus, the chains record many more transactions per day giving them an economy of scale typical independents cannot match.
Working through NATSO and independent truck stop marketing groups such as PTP and AM-BEST, independent truck stop operators spent many hours in meetings with Comdata between 2000 and 2007 trying to reach an agreement on transaction fees. When these meetings ultimately proved fruitless, the lawsuits were filed.
The second lawsuit in the saga was filed in May 2009 naming not only Comdata, but its parent Ceridian Corp., as well as the major truck stop chains, TravelCenters of America, Pilot Travel Centers LLC and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc.
According to one truck stop operator involved in the suit, plaintiffs want to add Ceridian and the national chain truck stops as defendants to the original case because their lawyers believe they have uncovered information during discovery that suggests these defendants’ involvement is greater than originally believed.
Then in March of this year, Judge Gardner ordered that two lawsuits be combined into one suit in an order delivered in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The March 25 order consolidates Marchbanks Truck Service, Inc., vs Ceridian Corp. (Civil Action No. 09-cv-2327) into the earlier lawsuit, Universal Delaware, Inc., et al vs. Comdata Corp. (Civil Action No. 07-cv-01078).
