Posted on July - 15 - 2011
Ex-Swift students get class-action status
Three years after a federal and state raid on a truck-driving school in Millington, more than 8,700 former students can now collectively sue Swift Transportation Corp. for the disruption to their careers.
U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald granted class-action status earlier this month to lawsuits filed by some of the former students of Swift Driving Academy.
Tennessee Department of Safety records “indicate that more than 8,700 former Swift students had their CDLs mercial driver license) revoked and were required to retest in order to obtain a new CDL,” the ruling states.
Swift operates both a trucking terminal in Memphis and a driving academy in Millington.
Until the 2008 raid, the Tennessee Department of Safety had not only permitted Swift employees to be third-party testers — on behalf of the state — ofmercial license applicants, but even placed a driver license station in the Swift terminal in Memphis.
The arrangement made it easier for Swift driving students to get their licenses afterpleting 23 days of training.
But authorities cracked down after an investigation into allegations that the normal rigors of the licensing process there had been corrupted by cutting corners.
Also, Swift students from out of state were being housed at a Millington motel, claiming the hotel as a Tennessee residence to get a Tennessee license, then returning to their home states to work.
After the raid, Tennessee required all former students from Tennessee over a three year period to be retested in order to keep their CDL. The Department of Safety also rmended the states of other former students require retesting, too.
Frank Watson, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, estimates the damages sought in a class-action suit could total $35 million. That’s based on 8,740 former students getting reimbursed the $3,000 to $3,900 paid for the training plus a $150 testing fee, Watson said.
“Swift will maintain the testing was separate and apart from the training,” Watson said. “But the reality is folks spent three weeks of their lives and it was all for naught,” Watson said, “unless they re-tested and gained their CDL.”
For many, it was hard to retest because they didn’t have easy access to a truck, he said.
But Dave Berry, a vice president for Swift, said Wednesday, “We will vigorously defend ourselves, and our lawyers believe we have solid grounds for an appeal.”
State records identify the affected 8,700 students, and each will automatically be included in the class action lawsuit, Watson said.
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