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Julie Maurer Speaks with Law360 for Article on Supreme Court Transportation Law Decisions

Phoenix, Ariz. (July 12, 2022) - Phoenix Partner and Co-Chair of Lewis Brisbois’ National Transportation Practice Julie Maurer was recently quoted in a Law360 article, titled “How Justices Impacted Transportation: Midyear Review,” which discusses recent notable U.S. Supreme Court decisions impacting the transportation industry and identifies legal questions that still remain.

As the article describes, although the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a significant ruling holding that airline cargo loaders were exempt from federal arbitration requirements, it declined to offer similar guidance on other matters involving conflicting state and federal regulations governing west coast operations. For example, the Court declined to hear the commercial trucking industry’s challenge to a split Ninth Circuit decision determining that federal law did not trump California’s heightened standard for legally classifying workers as independent contractors.

Ms. Maurer told Law360 that she was surprised the Supreme Court declined to review this case because "there is a deep split in the circuits, and federal preemption needs more guidance from the court." She further noted, "The effect will be immediate and substantial, not only [for] over 70,000 owner-operators in California alone, but it will send shock waves to the already troubled supply chain nationwide."

The article also describes two additional matters that the Supreme Court declined to hear regarding (1) whether California’s meal-and-rest-break regulations interfered with federal regulations, and thus, applied to flight attendants working in and out-of-state and (2) whether the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) protected freight brokers from state-based personal injury and negligence claims.

Ms. Maurer (CVC, TLA, TIA, TIDA) represents clients in jurisdictions throughout the country in the areas of transportation and complex commercial litigation, regularly serving as national litigation counsel. She has extensive experience as lead chair in bench and jury trials in state and federal courts as well as arbitrations throughout the United States.

Read the full Law360 article here.

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