If Celadon Driving Academy is so great, how come they sue so many of their students?

The Small Claims Court is likely going to be a very busy place on Tuesday, October 25, when the court processes 37 cases that were filed in just one day, 9/20/2016, by Celadon Driving Academy, LLC against former students. Most of these students were presumably hoping that getting their CDL and a job driving a truck would lift them out of their economic despair and be the answers to their problems.  Instead, I predict most of them will be facing a default judgment exceeding $7,200 that will stay on their credit report for at least 10 years unless they somehow find the money to pay it.

Celadon is one of a number of trucking companies that try to recruit new drivers by offering to pay for their training.  What people don’t realize is that if for any reason, including reasons that aren’t your fault, you can’t not only complete the training but also complete the specified time on the job with the the trucking company, the company reserves the right to sue you for what they claim is the value of the education.  Since virtually nobody pays cash for the training, the cost ends up being whatever the company says it is.  Celadon may not be, and probably isn’t, the worst of the bunch. It’s just the one that’s on my desk right now.

There is virtually no regulation of these contracts.  Because the contracts don’t specify installments and may not have a finance charge on their face, they are not regulated under the Truth In Lending Act or under state Consumer Credit Codes.  Because the schools typically don’t offer diplomas or certificates, the schools may not have to be licensed and face little or no state regulation.  T.he students may be trucked to the school location in a distant state before they even see or sign the contract. A big reason for this is if the school has the student sign the contract at the school, the school can sue the student in the school’s legal jurisdiction without violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In 2013, Celadon touted that 35 new drivers a week came to its school in Indianapolis, and that the training school was a great tool to overcome high turnover in the industry that averaged 98% per year. (Source: This Indianapolis Business Journal article.) That means that the workforce almost completely turned over every year.  That also suggests that a large number of people who take the course won’t complete the 120,000 miles of driving required to discharge their contractual obligation.  (That’s 2,000 hours of driving at 60 miles per hour, or 40 hours per week for 50 weeks a year, not counting any dead time or time waiting for loads.) Nobody ever talks about the people who are left behind and what happens to them.

What happened to these people that didn’t complete the course and are being sued?  Well, that’s what I’m trying to find out.  I am investigating claims relating to five issues with Celadon:

(1) Did Celedon Driving Academy lead students to believe that the training would be a lot shorter than it actually is?
(2) Is a large part of the difference due toa shortage of instructors, mentor drivers, or equipment that Celadon was supposed to provide?
(3) Did Celadon timely pay students for their orientation time?
(4) Did Celadon sue students for a contractual interest rate that wasn’t on the contract?
(5) Did Celadon sue students for attorneys fees under circumstances where the contract didn’t allow it?

If you have been sued by Celadon Driving Academy, LLC (which you may know under its previous name, Quality Drivers, LLC.), please contact my office.

If you have been sued by any other truck driving school, CDL school or any other trade school in Indiana, please call my office.  You might have defenses that you aren’t aware of.

If you have been sued by a trade school in any other state,  find an experienced consumer attorney in the state where you have been sued through the National Association of Consumer Advocate’s Find an Attorney page, linked here.