Truckers Accuse Elmhurst Firm Of Fraud: Lawsuit

ELMHURST, IL – Super Ego Holding, which runs a major trucking hub in Elmhurst's north-side industrial park, faces a class action lawsuit from drivers.

Last year, six truckers sued the company in federal court, alleging the company paid them fraudulently reduced load prices.

The lawsuit states the company overcharged truckers for fuel, failed to provide brokers' load confirmation sheets and failed to pay them at the percentage rate promised in their lease agreements.

In its response, the company denied the allegations, saying the truckers misinterpreted the contract.

The company's attorney, Charles Andrewscavage of the Chicago-based Scopelitis Garvin law firm, did not return a message for comment last week.

The Elmhurst hub has been the site of frequent police calls over the last year. The incidents have involved violence and theft, prompting the city to issue "chronic nuisance" warnings, according to police reports.

The truckers, who are from Illinois, Tennessee and Georgia, are represented by Christopher Wilmes of the Chicago-based Hughes Socol law firm.

In their lawsuit, the drivers said they relied on the promise in the company's advertisements that they would receive 88 percent of the price of all loads they hauled.

That means that the carrier pays drivers a percentage of the total price the customers pay to transport a load, the truckers said in the lawsuit.

The company, however, lied and underreported the price of the loads transported by the truckers, the lawsuit said. The truckers also accused the company of falsifying brokers' load confirmation sheets they gave to the truckers.

In one instance, according to the lawsuit, a trucker was paid 88 percent of the reduced load price of $3,500, which works out to $3,080.

But it turns out the shipper was actually paying $4,800, which would have meant $4,224 for the driver, meaning he was shorted more than $1,100, the lawsuit said.

In court documents, the company's lawyer, Andrewscavage, said the independent contractor's agreement showed that the company agreed to pay 88 percent, minus applicable escrow deductions, cargo and liability insurance, cash advances, fines and damage payments, among other items.

The truckers now have a website in which they are seeking more plaintiffs for the class action lawsuit.

No trial date has been set.

The truck drivers are Larry Atkinson, Eugene Walker, Jason Greene, Giovanni Williams, Charles Cross and Terrill Clay.