United States Supreme Court Rule Independent Contractors are Exempt from Arbitration Clauses in Trucking Company Contracts.

The US Supreme court has ruled in favor of an Independent Contractor that brought suit against a trucking company which was compelling the Owner Operator to settle a wage dispute through arbitration.

The owner operator had brought a class action suit against the New Prime Trucking company saying that it was mis-classifying its drivers as independent contractors and therefore they were entitled to benefits that would be due a company driver.

The court ruled that despite the fact that the owner operator signed an arbitration agreement the exemption to Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applied to owner operators (independent contracts) as well as company drivers.

The court decision did not address whether or not the driver was properly classified as an owner operator.

The court decision will probably heavily impact the trucking industry when it comes to enforcing arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act. It may still be possible for trucking companies to enforce arbitration agreements under State arbitration laws.