By Walter F. Roche Jr.
Stating that he wants to keep things moving, a federal judge has set a series of deadlines for hearings and filings in a half dozen civil suits against Pilot Travel, the nationwide truck stop firm charged with cheating truckers out of millions of dollars in promised rebates.
In a 26-minute telephone conference Friday, U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar told lawyers for the trucking firms that they must file any amendments to their existing complaints by Nov. 14. He also set deadlines for additional filings by Pilot and scheduled court sessions through mid-February.
Thapar also promised to rule on several key pending motions by early next year.
"I'll move heaven and earth to get a decision out at the end of January," Thapar said.
The suits, which have been merged in U.S. District Court in Kentucky, stem from allegations that Pilot sales executives routinely cheated truckers out of promised rebates. Pilot already has reached a $92 million settlement with the federal government over the allegations.
In addition the company settled charges with most its customers in a class action suit filed last year in Arkansas. Payments under that agreement totaled $85 million.
Thapar ruled that, at least for now, he will not allow the trucking firms to use the federal settlement to bolster the civil cases.
In addition to the deadline for filing amended complaints, Thapar asked the attorneys to provide him with what he termed "a cheat sheet" summarizing the particulars of their claims and the statutes involved.
He also set a deadline for Pilot to file its responses to amended complaints and scheduled a hearing for oral arguments on Jan. 9 in Covington, Ky.
Exempted from some of the deadlines was Wright Transportation, an Alabama firm which already has filed its amended complaint.
Lawyers for the trucking firms and Pilot, including its chief executive, James A. Haslam, all indicated they were pleased with Thapar's timetable. Haslam, the brother of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, is a named defendant in two of the cases.
Thapar is also presiding over the grand jury investigating the rebate skimming allegations. Already 10 former Pilot executives and sales staffers have entered guilty pleas to mail and wire fraud charges and are awaiting sentencing.
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Friday, October 31, 2014
Monday, October 6, 2014
Top Former Pilot Executives Got Target Letters, Civil Suit Charges
By Walter F. Roche Jr.
A filing in a civil suit in Kentucky states that two top former executives of Pilot Flying J have received target letters as part of the investigation of a rebate skimming scheme that has already resulted in guilty pleas by 10 other former employees of the Knoxville firm.
In a 73-page amended complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court, attorneys for two New Jersey firms, National Retail Transportation and Keystone Freight, charge that target letters were sent to former Pilot President Mark Hazelwood and John Freeman, who was Pilot's national vice president of sales.
The amended complaint also repeats charges that Pilot Chief Executive Officer James A. Haslam knew of the scheme and approved of it.
Target letters are generally sent to those persons being investigated for suspected criminal violations. They are not formal charges and neither Freeman nor Hazelwood have been indicted. Their lawyers did not respond to a request for comment Monday but in the past they have denied their clients received target letters.
As spelled out in court filings, top Pilot executives and sales staff routinely reduced the rebates promised to truckers. Pilot already has reached a $92 million settlement with the federal government because of the rebate reduction scheme.
The filing comes in one of a handful of remaining civil suits against Pilot, all filed following an April 15, 2013 raid on the travel stop chain's headquarters. A subsequent court filing included lengthy excerpts from transcripts of secretly taped Pilot sales meetings in which the rebate reduction plan was openly discussed.
Lawyers for Haslam and Pilot have filed motions to have the suits dismissed.
The lengthy amended complaint filed Friday also names more than a half dozen other Pilot staffers that the trucking firms' attorneys charge were involved in a conspiracy to deprive the truckers of promised payments. Though some have been previously identified, many have not.
The filing charges violations of federal and state racketeering laws, fraud and violations of New Jersey consumer protection statutes.
A filing in a civil suit in Kentucky states that two top former executives of Pilot Flying J have received target letters as part of the investigation of a rebate skimming scheme that has already resulted in guilty pleas by 10 other former employees of the Knoxville firm.
In a 73-page amended complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court, attorneys for two New Jersey firms, National Retail Transportation and Keystone Freight, charge that target letters were sent to former Pilot President Mark Hazelwood and John Freeman, who was Pilot's national vice president of sales.
The amended complaint also repeats charges that Pilot Chief Executive Officer James A. Haslam knew of the scheme and approved of it.
Target letters are generally sent to those persons being investigated for suspected criminal violations. They are not formal charges and neither Freeman nor Hazelwood have been indicted. Their lawyers did not respond to a request for comment Monday but in the past they have denied their clients received target letters.
As spelled out in court filings, top Pilot executives and sales staff routinely reduced the rebates promised to truckers. Pilot already has reached a $92 million settlement with the federal government because of the rebate reduction scheme.
The filing comes in one of a handful of remaining civil suits against Pilot, all filed following an April 15, 2013 raid on the travel stop chain's headquarters. A subsequent court filing included lengthy excerpts from transcripts of secretly taped Pilot sales meetings in which the rebate reduction plan was openly discussed.
Lawyers for Haslam and Pilot have filed motions to have the suits dismissed.
The lengthy amended complaint filed Friday also names more than a half dozen other Pilot staffers that the trucking firms' attorneys charge were involved in a conspiracy to deprive the truckers of promised payments. Though some have been previously identified, many have not.
The filing charges violations of federal and state racketeering laws, fraud and violations of New Jersey consumer protection statutes.
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