As civil lawsuits pile up in the wake of federal allegations concerning Pilot Flying J’s fuel rebate program, questions are being raised about the proposed settlement of a class action filed in Arkansas.
As first reported by The Tennessean, the man who formed a corporation seeking to settle multiple suits against the truck stop giant is also a trucking association executive who counts Pilot among his dues-paying members.
Records show that within days of the FBI raid on Pilot’s Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters, Lane Kidd, who heads the Arkansas Trucking Association, formed National Trucking Financial Reclamation Services LLC. National Trucking then filed the class-action suit that led to the proposed settlement.
The connection is a little too cozy for some trucking companies and plaintiffs, who argue in court filings that Kidd’s firm is a “shell” company, “hastily conjured in Arkansas” for resolving the civil cases against Pilot.
Drew McElroy, the attorney for Atlantic Coast Carriers and three other trucking firms, charged that National Trucking shouldn’t qualify to be part of the class action, The Tennessean reported.
“National Trucking is not a trucking company and has never bought a gallon of fuel from Pilot,” the motion states.
In another filing, Wright Transportation presented a similar objection. Additionally, Wright’s lawyers say the settlement provides little more than the offer Pilot CEO James A. Haslam had already made to customers whose fuel rebates had been underpaid.
