Commission to resolve moving company dispute

On Thursday, members of the Montana Public Service Commission came to Kalispell to hold a hearing on a dispute between a multi-state shipping giant and a former employee who has been trying to leave the corporate umbrella and start his own business in Kalispell.

The hearing centered around the potential sale of Dunne Moving and Storage’s Motor Carrier Certificate of Authority to A-Team Moving and Storage. The sale, which would allow A-Team to lawfully operate in the valley, drew an objection from Mergenthaler, and the commission is resolving the dispute.

Mergenthaler has also sued A-Team in district court for funds the company says A-Team’s owner, Carroll Demars, owe them from overpayments made to him during his time filling contracts under their corporate name.

In Montana, the Public Service Commission regulates businesses that move household goods for clients. The commission will decide whether Demars and his new company can adequately provide services, and whether there is a need for another competitor in the valley.

Throughout his testimony, Demars made it clear that he thought there was more than enough demand to fill the schedule of another moving company and that he was uniquely positioned to fill those contracts.

Demars began his career working for Mergenthaler, and the relationship continued in one capacity or another until the end of 2017. By that time, he said he was filling contracts for Mergenthaler using a different company he owned working as a contractor for Mergenthaler.

His maintains that his crew had grown from around five to nearly 20 at a time when the local Mergenthaler crews were suffering from attrition to the point that they were heaping more of their workload on him as a contractor. At one point, nearly 80 percent of the local jobs were being funneled to Demars’ company, according to testimony given at the hearing.

“Our workload was growing because they couldn’t hire and retain guys,” Demars said.

As the workload grew, Demars claims that the slice of profits he was getting from Mergenthaler in an average deal was also shrinking. He decided he would be better off on his own, and at the beginning of August last year he let Mergenthaler know he would sever his ties with them at the end of the month.

“It was only a matter of time before all my guys wanted me to start a moving company,” Demars said.

Soon, Mergenthaler claimed that they overpaid Demars for a couple contracts and demanded in the neighborhood of $20,000 back. That payment dispute forms a portion of the separate litigation that is ongoing in district court.

Mergenthaler maintains that Demars isn’t fit to occupy any niche that may or may not exist in the Flathead Valley moving market, despite the fact that he worked in the industry for them for most of his career.

Attorneys for the company spent most of the hearing pointing to alleged inaccuracies in paperwork Demars turned over to the commission in advance of the hearing. For instance, Demars said he had $50,000 in cash on hand, but a bank statement allegedly showed about $1,900 in his account. Demars said the $50,000 figure was a projection based on funds he could tap from family members if the need arose.

The Mergenthaler attorney also showed copies of a Facebook post Demars had previously written to attack Demars’ credibility.

Truck drivers are required by the Department of Transportation to maintain logs of how many hours a given driver has been on the road in a given period to avoid over exhaustion and unsafe driving practices. The regulations also limit the productivity of a given driver and truck on assignment.

In the Facebook post, Demars had allegedly written “F the logbook and the DOT.”

Mergenthaler also alleged that one of its employees, Mark Twichel, was purposefully diverting contracts away from Mergenthaler and toward A-Team. That charge was among multiple for which Twichel was suspended at the end of October last year, and he is now working for A-Team.

After the hearing, each party will get a chance to submit more material to the commission for consideration, said Public Service Commission Staff Attorney Zachary Rogala. The commission’s staff will then review and summarize those documents for the commissioners. A decision is likely within two months.

Rogala said it was possible but unlikely that the commissioners would wait to issue a decision until after the conclusion of the concurrent suit in district court.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.