Last week, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rendered its decision pertaining to the preliminary injunction that had been granted in the CTA’s AB 5 lawsuit. As you will recall, the U.S. Federal District Court had issued a preliminary injunction in January of 2020, blocking the State of California from enforcing AB 5 onto motor carriers and independent owner-operators operating in California. The State of California (and the Teamsters as an intervenor in the litigation) had filed an appeal challenging the granting of that preliminary injunction.
The ruling from the three judge 9th Circuit panel, the judges ruled 2-1 to reverse the granting of that preliminary injunction on narrow grounds related to circuit precedent on "generally applicable laws". What does that mean with regard to CTA’s litigation? We have legal pathways to respond to this decision, and we are planning to do so.
As of today, the preliminary injunction remains in effect and we have a window of time to file for a rehearing by the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. During the time that the 9th Circuit considers our filing seeking a rehearing, the preliminary injunction will remain in effect. If the 9th Circuit grants rehearing, the preliminary injunction will remain in effect for the duration of those proceedings.
As always, we encourage you to discuss tthe ruling with counsel for company-specific planning purposes.
While we are disappointed with this outcome, it is clear that the decision was focused on very narrow grounds pertaining to their opinion that AB 5 is a law of general applicability and therefore not preempted by the FAAAA. The dissenting judge in the 2-1 decision clearly disagreed with the other two judges and we look forward to an opportunity for the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to review this matter.
