Justices Deliver Win to Trucker in Arbitration Fight (1)

A long-haul trucker who says he was underpaid can take his fight into the courtroom rather than arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court said Jan. 15.

The federal law that’s used to enforce arbitration agreements doesn’t apply to transportation workers in interstate commerce, even if they’re independent contractors, the high court unanimously ruled. The justices interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act’s exclusion for the “contracts of employment” of certain workers broadly, saying they refer to any agreement to perform work.

“This decision is a real setback,” Richard Pianka, an attorney with the American Trucking Associations Inc., told Bloomberg Law. “It took arbitration ...