On January 15, 2019, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that independent contractors who work in the transportation industry may not be forced into mandatory arbitration. The decision will allow contractors to defend their rights in court.

The case, New Prime Inc. v. Oliveria, involved a dispute between a trucking company and one of its drivers. When the driver, Dominic Oliveria, began working for New Prime, he was required to complete 10,000 miles of hauling freight for free. Then, as a trainee, he had to complete an additional 30,000 miles for four dollars an hour. Once he became a driver, he was deemed a contractor and was forced to lease his own truck and pay for his own gas. This would not have been the case if the company had deemed him an employee.

Just because a lawyer is famous, doesn’t mean you’ll get the results you want. Andrew Milder learned this the hard way. He was wrongfully arrested and hired Hollywood attorney, Shawn Holley. Holley has a client list full of celebrities. She was on the defense team for O.J. Simpson, represented Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian West, and Kanye West. She accompanied Kim Kardashian West to the White House when she spoke with the president about Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time drug offender who was serving a life sentence.

But Milder’s experience as Holley’s client in 2012 wasn’t a good one. His retainer agreement was $25,000, plus costs for a private investigator who would find more evidence for Andrew’s case.