DAT and OTR Legal Battle Set for Urgent June 17 Hearing

The Cobb County Superior Court in Georgia is gearing up for an emergency hearing on June 17 that could lead to DAT Freight & Analytics temporarily shutting down its newly acquired Outgo factoring division.

This hearing was called by Senior Judge Adele Grubbs after OTR Capital—operating as OTR Solutions—filed an emergency motion on June 12, alleging that DAT has disregarded parts of a ruling made on June 10.

OTR contends that the acquisition of seattle-based Outgo by Beaverton, Oregon’s DAT violates existing agreements between them and is detrimental to OTR’s operations.

the initial complaint was lodged by OTR on May 30, prompting the request for this urgent hearing.

A Judge’s Findings

Diving into details from a preliminary hearing held on June 10, Judge Grubbs noted several critical points: (1) there’s a significant risk of irreparable harm without this order; (2) the potential injury to OTR outweighs any negative impact this ruling might have on DAT; (3) there’s a strong chance that OTR will prevail in its claims; and (4) enforcing this order aligns with public interest.

DAT has been instructed not to compete with OTR’s factoring services within the U.S. through Outgo or any other means. Thay must also stop providing these services via Outgo and refrain from using a “blue checkmark” in their online offerings.

This type of factoring allows carriers immediate access to funds for freight invoices—a crucial service in logistics management.

However, according to OTR, it seems like DAT is cherry-picking which aspects of the court’s directive it wants to follow while merely pausing new client acquisitions. “The court didn’t give DAT permission for business as usual,” they warned in their motion.

Pursuing Compliance

The company has requested hefty fines for each day that DAT fails to comply with these orders. The crux of their argument hinges upon allegations that acquiring Outgo breaches a non-compete agreement established earlier between both parties.
DAT had previously signed an NDA promising not only confidentiality but also protection against competitive actions against OTR—breaching which could cause “irreparable harm,” according to legal documents.
In August 2021, both companies entered into an agreement involving referrals and revenue sharing which included clauses preventing competition or establishing similar businesses—a point emphasized strongly by OTR.If they had known about DAT’s intentions regarding direct competition against them while still receiving referral fees from them would have changed everything,” stated their complaint filed at month-end May.

The demands from OTR include:

• A halt on all operations at Outgo
• The return of confidential information such as client lists or pricing structures
• An end to all factoring services offered by DAT
• An escrow account set up for revenues generated through Outgo
• Compensatory damages along with punitive damages
• The removal of all references related to Outgo from the load board operated by DAT