Rabid-Possum
New Member
Ok, so here's the deal, first a little backstory:
I was a lease driver for CR englad up until a couple of weeks ago.
I had signed my 6 month demo lease 2 months prior and had crap loads from the first day.
Every load I was assigned had a delay of 2 hours minumin, and on several loads, I was delayed at the docks for entire days. I never got more than 2100 miles in a week, despite my pleas with my DM and higher-ups to try to get me better loads. I went 2 months and not once did I have a paycheck that wasn't a balance due.
After 6 weeks of this, my loads got even worse, they would make me swap my load with another driver with an empty, and sit at truck stops for one or two days, then give me some short haul of maybe 600-800 miles.
One day I got a call from the companies insurace provider stating that the driver of a 4-wheeler was making a claim against the company and me for "sideswiping" their SUV.
the owner was not present, and the eyewitness who supposedly saw it had a truck number that matched mine, but the trailer number did not match the trailer I had, nor was it even close.
I learned that the incident was supposed to have happened a MONTH before I recieved this call about it. And in that entire time, no one could get hold of the eyewitness in any way whatsoever.
Also, no police report was filed. and as far as I know, no photo evidence was taken of the alleged damage either.
After talking to the safety manager at CR England, I was routed through the headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT
Since the safety manager had yet to obtain the maintenance records on the trailer I DID have, and the one the eyewitness gave the number for, I took it upon myself to visit the maintenance shop and gather the info myself.
The trailer I had had had no work orders at all since the date this accident was claimed to have happened, and the other trailer had a mud flap bracket repaired a week after that time. Also, records showed that BOTH trailers were assigned to my truck on that date, despite being in different states.
I took this info back to the safety manager who said come back in an hour, and when I came back, he had the building security present and said in these exact words "I feel like you hit this SUV, so I'm disqualifying you. You're done driving for CR England" and had security escort me out of the building.
I asked him to show me ANY evidence he had to support the claim against me, and the only thing he could provide was a printout of the persons allegations against me. Nothing else.
I had to have my grandparents drive 18 hours to come get me and my stuff in SLC, then drive all the way down to Texas to take me home. it cost almost $700 to do that.
Anyways, the insurance company is denying this persons claim due to lack of evidence I know for a fact, and there being no evidence, no damage, and no eyewitness; I think I have a valid case against the company.
My question is, since I was a lease driver and therefore an "independant contractor" do I have a case for wrongful termination, or would it fall under breach of contract somehow?
I havent been told what, if anything, they've put on my DAC, but I know that 2 other local outfits have turned me down based on my recount of why I left England, so if I have a case against them for firing me, do I also have a case for defamation of character?
And can I include the associtated costs of getting home in my damages against them?
Thanks,
-RP
I was a lease driver for CR englad up until a couple of weeks ago.
I had signed my 6 month demo lease 2 months prior and had crap loads from the first day.
Every load I was assigned had a delay of 2 hours minumin, and on several loads, I was delayed at the docks for entire days. I never got more than 2100 miles in a week, despite my pleas with my DM and higher-ups to try to get me better loads. I went 2 months and not once did I have a paycheck that wasn't a balance due.
After 6 weeks of this, my loads got even worse, they would make me swap my load with another driver with an empty, and sit at truck stops for one or two days, then give me some short haul of maybe 600-800 miles.
One day I got a call from the companies insurace provider stating that the driver of a 4-wheeler was making a claim against the company and me for "sideswiping" their SUV.
the owner was not present, and the eyewitness who supposedly saw it had a truck number that matched mine, but the trailer number did not match the trailer I had, nor was it even close.
I learned that the incident was supposed to have happened a MONTH before I recieved this call about it. And in that entire time, no one could get hold of the eyewitness in any way whatsoever.
Also, no police report was filed. and as far as I know, no photo evidence was taken of the alleged damage either.
After talking to the safety manager at CR England, I was routed through the headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT
Since the safety manager had yet to obtain the maintenance records on the trailer I DID have, and the one the eyewitness gave the number for, I took it upon myself to visit the maintenance shop and gather the info myself.
The trailer I had had had no work orders at all since the date this accident was claimed to have happened, and the other trailer had a mud flap bracket repaired a week after that time. Also, records showed that BOTH trailers were assigned to my truck on that date, despite being in different states.
I took this info back to the safety manager who said come back in an hour, and when I came back, he had the building security present and said in these exact words "I feel like you hit this SUV, so I'm disqualifying you. You're done driving for CR England" and had security escort me out of the building.
I asked him to show me ANY evidence he had to support the claim against me, and the only thing he could provide was a printout of the persons allegations against me. Nothing else.
I had to have my grandparents drive 18 hours to come get me and my stuff in SLC, then drive all the way down to Texas to take me home. it cost almost $700 to do that.
Anyways, the insurance company is denying this persons claim due to lack of evidence I know for a fact, and there being no evidence, no damage, and no eyewitness; I think I have a valid case against the company.
My question is, since I was a lease driver and therefore an "independant contractor" do I have a case for wrongful termination, or would it fall under breach of contract somehow?
I havent been told what, if anything, they've put on my DAC, but I know that 2 other local outfits have turned me down based on my recount of why I left England, so if I have a case against them for firing me, do I also have a case for defamation of character?
And can I include the associtated costs of getting home in my damages against them?
Thanks,
-RP