US Supreme Court will hear appeal in New Hampshire trucking case

With support from colleagues in Vermont and New Hampshire, Attorney Kate Strickland of Downs Rachlin Martins St. Johnsbury and Lebanon offices will argue an appeal before the United States Supreme Court in March. The court will decide whether federal law deregulating the trucking industry preempts claims based on state laws regulating the sale and disposal of a towed vehicle.
In the underlying case, a landlord had an apartment-dwellers vehicle towed to enforce the landlords winter parking policy. When the vehicle owner did not claim the vehicle within thirty days, the towing company sent a certified letter to the vehicles owner advising that it had the vehicle and considered it abandoned. The letter was returned by the post office, and the box moved, left no address, was checked.
Two days before the auction at which the vehicle was to be sold for unpaid towing and storage fees, the vehicle owner, through his counsel, advised the towing company that the owner had not abandoned his vehicle, and wanted to reclaim it. The vehicle owner later took the position that he should not have to pay any storage fees, and the towing company eventually traded it. When the vehicle owner received no compensation for his vehicle, he sued both the landlord and the towing company.
The towing company moved to dismiss the claims brought against it, arguing that the owners state-based claims are preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which includes provisions deregulating the trucking industry. On appeal, the New Hampshire Supreme Court held that the owners state law claims against the tow truck company were not preempted by federal law. In prior decisions in similar cases, the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reached a different conclusion. The Supreme Court will consider the matter in March.
Strickland practices in Vermont and New Hampshire and is a member of the firms Litigation Practice Group. The legal team also includes DRM Director Andre Bouffard, a litigator working from the firms Burlington Office. The United States Supreme Court agrees to hear less than one percent of the cases it is asked to hear.
Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC is a full-service law firm with more than 60 attorneys and six offices in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. DRM provides legal services to local, national and international clients in practice areas that include bankruptcy and business restructuring, corporate and commercial law, captive insurance, energy, health law, intellectual property , labor and employment, litigation, real estate and land use, environmental law, tax law, telecommunications, family law, and trusts and estates. The firm represents clients in legislative, regulatory and public affairs through the Government and Public Affairs group. DRM is the law firm member for Vermont of Lex Mundi, the worlds leading association of independent law firms.