Independent Contractor Trucker Dodges FAA Arbitration And Keeps His Class Action Alive

In Oliveira v. New Prime, Inc., No. 15-2364 (May 12, 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit confronted two arbitration-related questions of first impression in that Circuit. In the case, Dominic Oliveira had signed an Independent Contractor Operating Agreement with New Prime, Inc., which contained an arbitration provision governed by the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Believing he was underpaid as an independent contractor, Oliveira stopped driving but later was rehired by the same entity as a company driver. Oliveira contends that his job duties as a company driver and an independent contractor were "substantially identical."