Here is what the USDOJ is looking for...

There are a number of things happening right now with Big Brokers that we would generally label as abusive. We want to identify these practices and help you understand where these abuses should be addressed and what types of information we are asking you to send us that we can pass on to USDOJ Antitrust Division (email: [email protected]).

PROFITEERING

Profiteering is not technically illegal unless it involves committing a crime. For example, profiteering exists when companies manipulate their prices, or when those in positions of authority abuse their powers.

Example: A broker "scoring" 65% commission on a load beyond the reasonable and customary broker commissions of 10-15%.

LOWBALLING

To offer a deceptively or unrealistically low estimate, bid, etc

Example: A broker offering rates to truckers and carriers well below the standard amounts usually offered to the truck of 85% to 90% of what the shipper is paying on the load.

PRICE GOUGING:

Price gouging occurs when a seller increases the prices of goods, services or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. Usually, this event occurs after a demand or supply shock. Common examples include price increases of basic necessities after natural disasters. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a crime that applies in some jurisdictions of the United States during civil emergencies. In less precise usage, it can refer either to prices obtained by practices inconsistent with a competitive free market or to windfall profits. Price gouging may be considered exploitative and unethical.

Example: broker overcharging a shipper beyond current market rates to score more than a reasonable and customary commission of 10% to 15%.

Note: Some state laws and/or emergency declarations make it unlawful to price gouge during a state of civil emergency. You may file a complaint with the state Attorney General if you have reason to believe a broker is price gouging.

FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION

Under contract law, a plaintiff can recover compensatory damages against a defendant when a court finds that the defendant has committed fraudulent misrepresentation. Courts will typically find that a defendant has committed fraudulent misrepresentation when six factors have been met:

1. a representation was made
2. the representation was false
3. that when made, the defendant knew that the representation was false or that the defendant made the statement recklessly without knowledge of its truth that the fraudulent misrepresentation was made with the intention that the plaintiff rely on it
4. that the plaintiff did rely on the fraudulent misrepresentation; and
5. that the plaintiff suffered harm as a result of the fraudulent misrepresentation

Example: A broker tells a carrier who is contractually bound to perform transportation that the load was cancelled by the shipper when this is not true so the broker can hire a different carrier at a lower cost.

These are all abuses but do not rise in and of themselves to a USDOJ Antitrust investigation. Antitrust involves anticompetitive activity geared toward removing competition from the market place to form monopolies or oligopolies.

ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS

The most common antitrust violations fall into two categories: (i) Agreements to restrain competition, and (ii) efforts to acquire a monopoly. ... Agreements between competitors that establish boundaries for pricing, such as setting a minimum or maximum price, are also prohibited.

Example: Big Brokers acting in conspiracy to set freight rates below the trucker's cost of a operating a truck to push truckers out of business so big carriers can form an oligopoly.

PRICE FIXING

The maintaining of prices at a certain level by agreement between competing sellers.

Example: Brokers acting in conspiracy attempt to set rate offerings at $1.00/mile

After our meeting yesterday, the USDOJ advised us they want to receive evidence of alleged violations of law in the area of Antitrust, which prohibit a number of business practices that restrain trade. Examples of illegal practices are price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers that are likely to cut back the competitive fervor of certain markets, and predatory acts designed to gain or hold on to monopoly power. If you have evidence of these specific activities, please forward to [email protected].