The National Owner Operators Association’s relatively new leasing program had a rough start earlier this year. Thomas Russell Holland, a former police officer who now owns a small trucking company, claimed that NOOA President Michael Boston stole money from him in an “scam” scheme.
Holland plans to sue Boston in the amount of $4,090 that Boston still owes Holland from the final loads and for what Holland calls “fraudulent representation.”
Holland’s claims were rebutted by NOOA representatives, both in terms of the money claimed and his description of their business dealings. It’s hard to tell from NOOA’s leasing agreement and its representatives what the carrier arrangement offers owner-operators who are looking to lease.
Holland and Boston agree on the following facts: NOOA uses an overseas dispatch service in Pakistan to negotiate freight load boards, sometimes with big brokers such as C.H. Boston has personally vowed not to do business with Robinson; NOOA leased Holland to a newly reinstated MC Number from motor carrier authority.
Holland also admitted he sold his old MC number to an unknown buyer when times were tough last year.
Holland, a carrier authority, said: “All I knew is that I needed money and someone wanted it so I bought it.”
Matthew Patrick , a fleet owner and vigilante against freight fraud, told that the practice of purchasing MC numbers is “screaming fraud”. Holland’s MC was not a popular choice with NOOA, but they signed him up as their first ever leased owner. Holland’s number now shows as “Inactive”, in FMCSA’s Safer Company Lookup System, since the sale.
Holland admits that he “skimmed the surface” of the lease agreement with NOOA.
It’s a cardinal sin to enter a contract. An article on Holland’s leasing with NOOA might end here. It’s a fact that most owner-operators know, but it’s worth repeating: Always read the contracts you sign.
The story does not end there. Boston, rather than letting the facts and the contract speak on their own, has been very vocal on social media attacking Holland’s employment and health status outside of trucking. Boston also claimed that he had been personally threatened with serious harm by unknown people after Holland posted his claims on social media.
What is the National Owner Operators Association (NOOA)?
NOOA is a trade association that represents owner-operators. It offers services like a multi-service card that includes fuel, maintenance, dispatch, and, in Holland’s case, an owner-operator leasing program.
Jayme Anderson is listed as the head of NOOA’s Carrier Division. He said that over his long career in trucking, he has built a network of shippers and brokers who keep his truck fully loaded and above the posted rate averages. and other NOOA members accuse DAT Freight & Analytics (DFA) of misrepresenting rates. In January promised that they would release their own dataset to counter the load board numbers, but this has not yet happened. Recent polling revealed that a majority Overdrive users don’t believe rate averages provided by firms like DAT.
[ Related to Rate data, transparency, and owner-operators’ real thoughts]
When his driver began hauling loads for NOOA, the first leased owner didn’t see Anderson’s network of brokers and shipping companies in the same way. Holland was able to see the freight being loaded onto the board when he joined Boston’s leasing program, which is billed as “NOOALOGIX virtual carrier”. ” (Boston recently handed over the reins of NOOA’s lobbying and advocacy activities to someone else.
NOOA stated that Boston invests $2600 per truck to “ensure proper coverage and compliance,” which includes insurance. Holland, however, was responsible for weekly payments and filed his IFTA.
Overdrive repeatedly asked NOOA for concrete examples of their advocacy work, or if they are working towards any meaningful milestones. They refused to answer.
NOOA made headlines for its ” national shut down ” and boycott against TQL, and other big brokers in 2023. However, NOOA’s virtual carrier booked loads with C.H. Robinson was still operating in this year and no shutdown of any kind occurred. low prices, excess capacity, and carrier authority revocations have marked the period.
Overdriveasked a few other simple questions when reporting this story.
NOOA refused to answer the question of how many paying members it has. NOOA’s site claims that there are 35,000 members. However, this is more likely to be a reference the group’s facebook page, which has around 40,000 followers. In November 2023 Boston told Overdrive that the number of paid members was less than 1,000 and may have even been lower.
Boston claimed that NOOA was a non-profit, but a search in the IRS database revealed that there were no organizations with this name. Overdrive asked NOOA for the name of its nonprofit, but NOOA did not respond.
The five NOOA members Overdrivethat Overdrive spoke to all denied paying dues or receiving money from the organization. They also said that Boston is the only one who has access to the money, beyond what Holland has paid him. Overdrivehas not spoken to a NOOA dues-paying member.
Boston created a NOOA board with an engineering team, but it’s not taken off. One mid-size broker claimed that Boston offered him “a good chunk” of cash to post loads on the board. The broker declined the cash offer, as he did not want to be a slave to NOOA. The broker said that Boston had not specified how many NOOA members carriers would be on the board and that they were still considering posting.
Holland’s route to the NOOA Lease Contract
Holland didn’t read the lease contract closely, but he did listen to the story NOOA told in regards to its advocacy and mission of supporting owner-operators. Holland, whose company was recently the subject of a faulty report by a third-party authority monitoring services, was moved by Boston’s message on his Facebook group.
Holland Logistics is an authorized carrier
Holland said that he thought he was getting factoring and a long-running MC Number to use, as well as a dispatching department which was fantastic.
A look at the NoOA contract Holland shared overdrive and the truck owner’s experience with the carrier shows that none of this was guaranteed, nor did it always go according to plan. The contract stipulates that NOOA is entitled to 20% of revenue from booked loads, and outlines some of Holland’s expenses.
You can read Holland’s lease agreement here.
Holland claims that the contract, in which insurance is stated to cost $250 per week, deliberately concealed the true costs of the arrangement. NOOA does admit that Holland paid $375 per week for insurance in reality but claims that the contract covers it.
Holland said, “You can’t hide costs in a contractual agreement and have someone sign off on a figure knowing that it is another.” The contract is poorly written. They should redo it. Holland believes that “that is fraud”, and I’m tired hearing them claim otherwise.
NOOA spokespeople pointed to a clause in the contract that stated Holland was responsible for any “Unpaid or Due and Owing Premiums for Any Insurance Required by this Agreement to be Purchased by Contractor.”
Holland disagrees and referred to his plans to sue – assuming he follows up on his threat. a judge will decide the merits in the case he brings.
Gary Buchs, a business coach for owner-operators who spent almost two decades with Landstar before retiring in 2019, reviewed the copy of Holland’s contract with NOOA. Buchs was leased by Landstar for nearly 20 years. Buchs criticized one clause from a business perspective: “Contractor (Holland) is responsible until the brokers or shippers pay the invoice.”
Buchs summarized his thoughts on the clause in this way: “You pay for everything that we tell you to pay, even if the customer does not pay the freight bill.” You still have us to pay.”
This was a problem to some extent. Jennifer Chrestman of NOOA’s corporate credit collection service provider said that the Holland Boston collaboration was a victim of a broker scam.
She said that “one of the loads [Holland] says he wasn’t paid for” was an unpaid truck order (TONU). “The broker turned out to be a fraud, so no one got paid for $400,” she added.
Holland said Boston also uses a New York-based address on some business documents, pays IFTA to Pennsylvania and lists a Texas-based address on the authority’s filing. This filing only lists one driver and one truck under the Wm on Time Trucking LLC authority.
The company claimed that the MCS-150 was accurate, as they only had Holland’s single truck and one driver operating under their authority.
The search for the Texas address leads to Premier Parking, a company that operates a valet near Midland International Airport. Premier Parking’s representative said that he was not aware of any trucking companies at this address.
[ Related to: FMCSA will end MC numbers and overhaul registration system in order to stamp out fraud]
A NOOA spokesperson stated that some of these addresses may still reflect old records. “However this should not be a problem for any drivers, as they are required to handle their IFTA by contract.”
Incorrect MCS-150 data can make it difficult for carriers to maintain insurance. Buchs posed a hypothetical: “Let’s assume you went from having one truck to a half-dozen and didn’t report that” on your MCS 150 filings. “And then, you’re put out of service [or] get a violation.” If you don’t keep this information up to date, you’re basically saying that one truck is responsible for all of these problems and you can’t even maintain insurance.
Joel Baker, a former owner-operator and trucking agent who specializes in insurance, made it clear in February how important it is to have an accurate MCS-150 in order to keep insurance costs down.
Holland’s dispute with NOOA was a major issue because of the insurance cost surprises. Buchs noted that “revenues and reimbursements are not defined or distinguished from each other” in the contract. He also noted that the Landstar contracts, among those he has worked with, make it a priority for owners to define and list these items.
Buchs said that in NOOA’s contract, “it is defined as ‘anything you think we owe you, we will keep’.” “I couldn’t find anything in there about a fuel surcharge, or any other accessories.”
What if a driver has earned some detention or layover pay? “Are they taking 20% of the layover pay?” Buchs is another hypothetical. The contract’s basic provisions don’t answer the question. Buchs believed that a contract’s lack specificity could be used to “suck money from the contractor”
Boston removed a factoring charge from Holland’s settlement check on two occasions. Holland called this theft.
NOOA responded to Overdrive and by saying that the missing money could have been “a simple bookkeeping error”, but did not offer to investigate it or reimburse Holland.
Boston insists Holland averaged $2.60/mile for loads. But Holland says that’s only loaded mileage, and that the load-board freight coming from the Pakistani dispatcher forced his driver to deadhead for hundreds of miles each week. Holland showed dispatch records showing that flatbed loads were sent from Arizona to Texas at $1.62/mile, and then back to Arizona at $2.42/mile.
Even Holland admits, aside from the question of the insurance charges and a few percentages off a couple settlement check, that NOOA fulfilled its contract. However, this does not guarantee success or revenue, nor do it guarantee direct relationships with shippers. NOOA spokespeople said that Holland’s grievances would have been resolved if they had been addressed through the proper channels, and not on social networks where NOOA and Holland fought.
Holland said that he tried to correct the situation internally but it didn’t work.
Boston tweeted during the social media flamewar that his organization is “committed to fighting the spread of misinformation, disinformation and lies” and urged all users of social media “to think critically about the online information they encounter.”
Boston claimed that he made money on Holland’s lease with the carrier. However, Holland said that he lost money overall during the lease.
When I told Mike, he said I didn’t understand how to run a company. “I am now making good profit” leasing to a company owned by a family member, he said. “Mike made money off me and that’s what he cares most about.”
NOOA could counter Holland’s claims by presenting other leased owners that are happy with the program or who are doing well. Overdrive contacted NOOA to see if another leased owner could speak anonymously about their experience with the lease contract. NOOA declined.
Reps cited their experience with social media.
[ Related: Your rights under the leasing regulations]