A lawsuit filed by South Florida truckers claiming U.S. Sugar and an affiliated partnership cheated them out of work by hiring foreign workers in their place is moving forward, but without some of its more serious allegations.
A Palm Beach County circuit judge has ruled the breach of contract and related fraud claims can go forward against U.S. Sugar Corp. and Caloosa Transport LLP, a trucking partnership managed by U.S. Sugar and in which it holds a 50 percent interest.
But the judge dismissed counts alleging U.S. Sugar aided and abetted Caloosa and that both entities conspired together to commit the fraud.
The judge also struck from the case allegations that U.S. Sugar made misrepresentations and false statements to the U.S. Department of Labor when it certified it needed to hire 50 non-citizen temporary workers for the 2019-20 growing season because there were no American workers available to do the job.
The nine truck drivers and companies who sued had contracts with Caloosa that could have paid them $30 an hour, up to seven days a week from October 2019 through May 2020. The temporary workers were paid $11.24 an hour driving Caloosa’s trucks.
But, the suit alleges, they were dismissed just two weeks into the deal after U.S. Sugar was able to hire the non-citizen temporary foreign workers under the H-2A workers’ program to replace them.
The suit alleges Caloosa Transport and U.S. Sugar are essentially one and the same, which is why the judge dismissed conspiracy claims...
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