Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Feb. 10, 2020:
Farmers file lawsuit against C.H. Robinson
A group of a dozen farmers have filed a class action lawsuit against C.H. Robinson, alleging the company engaged in deceptive business practices. While the lawsuit was filed as a class action complaint, it has not yet been certified as class action.
CHR refutes the claims, saying the complaint “contains an enormous amount of self-service falsehoods, as well as blatant mischaracterizations and fabrications about our company, teams and the actual agreements signed by the growers themselves.”
“We deny any and all allegations of wrongdoing and look forward to vigorously defending our actions, as well as filing legitimate counterclaims against the growers,” the company adds. “C.H. Robinson loaned several of the growers listed in the complaint money to finance their businesses. Now that the money is due to be repaid, these growers are using this complaint to avoid paying their debts.”
The farmers are seeking $1.1 billion, which stems from profits they allege CHR concealed from them when the profits should have been passed back to the growers, as well as punitive damages, according to a report from Texas Public Radio.
The complaint against CHR alleges “freight topping,” meaning CHR and its subsidiary Robinson Fresh allegedly overcharged produce customers for freight costs, then pocketed the additional profits and did not disclose the profits to the farmers, which is a violation of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
Texas dealer relocates to new sizable facility
Performance Truck, a Kenworth dealer serving the Bryan-College Station, Texas area with sales and service, recently relocated to a newly constructed $7 million facility.
The 53,000-square-foot building features a 24-bay service department for equipment diagnosis and repair. The dealership’s 15,500-square-foot warehouse and mezzanine space is dedicated to parts storage to support the needs of local fleets and truck operators travelling through the area. The facility also features a 6,000-square-foot visual parts and merchandising display. It’s all located on 10 acres in Bryan at 5013 E. Highway 21. The dealer group also operates eight other full-service dealerships in the Texas towns of Buda, Baytown, Beaumont, Brookshire, Cleveland, Houston, Lufkin and Victoria, and a parts-only store in Jasper.“With a new and larger facility, we will offer better service and accommodate for the growing demands of our customer base and those passing through the greater Bryan-College Station area,” said Dayne Yeager, Performance Truck CEO. Parts and service hours are from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The truck sales department is available 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
