We are a construction trucking company in California. I have two issues with a contractor. We are currently working on a public works job providing off hauling trucking services through a trucking broker. The contractor has denied payment for any freight bills that are not received by them within 7 days. They stated that there is a 7 day zero payment clause in the contract between the trucking broker and the contractor. None of the subcontracted trucks have ever seen a contract or signed one. This contractor has also decided to pay on an average time that it take a truck to drive the material to the dump site instead of the actual time worked and provided on the invoice. They stated that some trucks will be paid more and some trucks will be paid less because of the average. All trucks have GPS trackers provided by the contractor so they do know that actual time worked. Are these types of clauses legal and enforceable? Are the individual subcontracted trucks held to a contract that has never been provided to them? We are responsible for about 30 trucks on this job. Thanks
You’re not bound by the terms of someone else’s contract if it’s not in your contract The contractor is liable for payment for work that he hires other to do. It sounds like a strong demand letter from an attorney may be helpful in getting you paid. You should also consider filing a Stop Payment Notice and a claim against the general contractor’s payment bond.