Electronic Logging Devices or ELDs are an electronic solution, which assists professional truck drivers and other commercial motors to track their Hours of Service (HOS) compliance easily and more conveniently. These electronic logging devices are the perfect replacement and upgrade to current automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRD) which track the driver’s record of Duty Status (RODS).

The United States enacted the bill “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century” in the year 2012, which is referred to as MAP-21. The bill contained the FMCSA requirements to develop the rule mandating the use of Electronic Logging Devices. It also required the commercial truck drivers to upgrade from the current version of Record of Duty Status (RODS) and Hours of Service (HOS) systems to ELDs so that comply with HOS regulations.

The Appeal of OOIDA’S ELD in Court

In 2016 September, the OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association) contended their case against the Department of Transportation to overturn the ELD mandate. Their argument contained five points mainly that formed the base of the case.

1.   EID does not record enough information automatically due to the intervention of the human in the system process: This rule proved contrary to the law as it allows the EIDs that are not fully automatic. It seeks to pit one statutory need against the other rather than leaving the agency to balance the competing policy goals, which are endorsed by Congress.

OOIDA Challenge Ways 

Initially, on April 11^th, the OOIDA counsel trailed a petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court and filed the lawsuit in March 2016 on various backgrounds, which include the violation of the electronic logs, and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S Constitution.

On June 8^th, 2017, the OOIDA challenged the U.S. Supreme Court to begin the process of deciding if it can accept the group’s challenge to the electronic logging mandate. The justices hold a conference to review the petitions on pending cases and could announce a decision on OOIDA’s petition before it adjourns for summer in June.

The U.S. Supreme Court mentioned that it would not hear a lawsuit against the DOT rule requiring truck operators to use electronic logging devices to track the track hours of the service. On March 2016 OOIDA brought the lawsuit against the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. In the following month, it ruled against the OOIDA, which favored the DOT by dismissing all OOIDA’s arguments against the mandate.

The U.S. Supreme Court outranked the 7^th Circuit appellate court. When the OOIDA filed a writ of certiorari to take up the case the justices of the Supreme Court conferred on the appeal of OOIDA on June 8^th. Later, it issued the decision in the following days, which effectively ends the OOIDA’s court challenge.

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