Joseph Leeson, III, the managing attorney at Leeson & Leeson, was quoted in The Legal Intelligencer in connection with recent developments in the case of Estanislao Enterprises Inc. v. FedEx Ground Corporation, Case No. 2:2023cv01809.
In an opinion authored by U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer of the Western District of Pennsylvania, the judge granted FedEx Ground’s motion to compel arbitration, after the plaintiff, Estanislao Enterprises Inc. (“EEI”), claimed FedEx engaged in abusive and illegal business practices toward itself and other “independent contractors” operating under independent service provider (ISP) agreements.
In the article titled “Federal Judge Sides With FedEx in Arbitration Dispute Over ‘Transportation Worker’ Definition” published on July 8, 2024, Attorney Leeson, who represents Estanislao Enterprises Inc., stated:
“The underlying litigation in the Estanislao Enterprises v. FedEx case addresses a matter of profound significance—specifically, the efforts by companies with superior bargaining power to circumvent the FAA’s transportation workers exemption and curtail employment laws by forcing transportation workers to form intermediary business entities as independent contractors before agreeing to contract with them and then treating these workers, effectively, as employees, with little regard to the substantial time and monetary investments these workers have made in their ventures,” EEI’s attorney, Joseph Leeson III of Leeson & Leeson, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said. “Such practices, are legally perilous as they betray the trust and loyalty that workers have placed in their employers and in the institutions designed to protect them.”
In light of the importance of such litigation, Leeson & Leeson will continue to fight to defend worker’s rights so that their voices are heard, and their efforts are not taken for granted.