TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Trucking Association has decided to create a war chest Legal Defense Fund to support legal action on matters with broad importance for the industry. The association recently announced an allocation of $100,000 to the fund.

The fund will be tapped for such things as assistance in obtaining legal opinions, preparing amicus briefs, interventions, and court challenges. For projects to be considered for funding, carriers or their legal representatives would have to submit a written request to OTA, outlining the facts relating to the legal issue at hand; its importance to the industry; supporting documentation (legal briefs, opinions, violation notices, court orders, judgements, etc.); the desired role of OTA (for example, intervenor, friend of the court or party to the action) and expected costs.

The OTA management would then make a preliminary assessment of whether the matter is of sufficient importance to the industry before referring it to the OTA executive committee to make a final decision.

OTAs success lies in its ability to tackle issues from all angles, whether its developing sound, well-researched policy proposals, sophisticated lobby strategies, or public relations campaigns, said OTA president, David Bradley. On so many issues there is a legal component that also needs to be considered and with the establishment of the Legal Defense Fund we are expanding our resources to further strengthen our ability to respond to carrier concerns.