Judge Sets Deadlines in Pilot Travel Civil Suits

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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