Opinion ID: 1427460
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kankakee to Joplin dispatch

Text: At 11:15 a.m. on October 8, after his trailer was loaded, Mr. Bettner left Kankakee, Illinois and began his drive to Joplin, Missouri. He stopped for a 45 minute lunch break and, later, an unexplained 3.75 hour break from 2:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. During that break, Mr. Bettner sent another Qualcomm message to Crete: WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET TO RECEIVER BY END OF DAY, WILL BE OUT OF HOURS FOR ONE THING, WILL BE THERE FIRST THING IN MORNING.... Id. at 72. Mr. Bettner drove until 11:30 p.m., stopping in Doolittle, Missouri to sleep. He logged a total of 8.5 hours of driving on October 8. He did not reach Joplin, Missouri in time for his 11:00 p.m. delivery window. While in Doolittle, Mr. Bettner received another pre-planned dispatch from Crete. It indicated that his next shipment would be from Joplin, MO to Kalamazoo, MI, and it would be loaded in Joplin at 9:00 a.m. on October 9. Crete then sent a message to Mr. Bettner requesting his estimated time of arrival in Joplin as well as an update on his service hours from the previous day. Mr. Bettner responded that his 8-hour break would not be complete for another half hour, and he was still 3 or 4 hours away from his delivery destination in Joplin. Crete and Mr. Bettner then exchanged several Qualcomm messages regarding Mr. Bettner's late loads. As part of this conversation, Crete stated: PPLAN INFO WAS SENT TO U LAST FRIDAY SHOWING U IT LIVE LOADED TUESDAY AFTERNOON WHICH WLD HAVE ALLOWED U TO BE ON TIME LAST NIGHT TO JOPLIN, PLSE KEEP CLOSE ATTN TO PPLAN TIMES. Id. at 42. Mr. Bettner sent the following response: I SEND IN MY HOURS EVERY DAY SO YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF MY HOURS.... IT IS NICE TO HAVE PRE-PLANNED LOADS, BUT I AM ONE PERSON AND NOT A TEAM. Id. at 45. A Crete dispatcher sent a reply, stating: its up to you to keep track of your hrs, I am planning loads based on approx 500mi a day and when a load is picked up late ... it throws the rest of the week off. Id. at 46. Mr. Bettner answered: I DO KEEP TRAK OF MY HOURS AND I KNOW WHEN YOU LOAD AND UNLOAD 6 TIMES A WEEK, FUEL UP, VI'S AND OTHER THINGS THAT TAKE ON DUTY TIME I WILL RUN UP AGAINST THE CLOCK. SHORT RUNS RUN A DRIVER RIGHT INTO THE GROUND, THERE IS NO GETTING AROUND THAT. Id. at 49. Crete's dispatcher then stated: LAST FRI U PICK UP IL TO GA, SHOWED U 2 PPLANS, MON TN TO IL, THEN TUES LIVE LD IN IL TO DLV JOPLIN YESTERDAY. U PICKED UP LOAD U HAVE NOW LATE ... IT HAD TO BE RESET, NOW U ARE DELIVERING IT LATE, NOW WE WILL BE LATE PICKING UP YOUR PPLAN OUT OF JOPLIN TODAY.... LOAD THAT DLV TO GA THIS PAST MONDAY SHLD HAVE BEEN DROPPED EARLY MON MORNING RATHER THAN AROUND 1200, THIS PUT THE WHOLE WEEK BEHIND & DIDN'T ALLOW U TO PICK UP TN LD TILL MONDAY NIGHT THEN DIDN'T ALLOW U TO DLV TO IL TO TUES NIGHT WHICH MISSED THE PICK UP TIME FOR LD U ARE ON NOW. Id. at 50-51. Mr. Bettner responded that he had picked up his loads in Atlanta and Lavergne within the specified window of time; he also noted that the load in Lavergne had just been loaded when he got there, so an earlier arrival would have made no difference in his ability to meet the deadline for his later shipments. Id. at 53. Crete, in turn, replied that Mr. Bettner needed to plan properly for contingencies. Id. at 58. Accordingly, after conducting a vehicle inspection, Mr. Bettner resumed his driving at 9 a.m. on October 9. He took a brief lunch break, and he arrived in Joplin to deliver his shipment at 1:00 p.m., 14 hours after the original delivery window had closed. He asserts that the drive from Morris, Illinois to Kankakee, Illinois, to Joplin, MO took 11.5 hours; therefore, he submits, he could not have completed it within a single day under the then-existing DOT regulations. See 49 C.F.R. § 395.3 (2002).