Lawsuit Targets California DMV Over Administrative Failures Affecting 20,000 CDL Drivers

The Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition and law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP filed a class-action lawsuit Monday in Alameda County Superior Court challenging the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ planned cancellation of approximately 20,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrant drivers.

The suit, filed against the DMV and Director Steve Gordon, seeks to halt license cancellations scheduled to begin Jan. 5, 2026, for 17,299 drivers, with another 2,700 set to lose their credentials in mid-February. The plaintiffs argue that the mass cancellations stem from the agency’s own administrative errors and violate state law, which requires drivers to have an immediate opportunity to reapply for corrected licenses.

“The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” said Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition. “If the court does not issue a stay, we will see a devastating wave of unemployment that harms individual families, as well as the destabilization of supply chains on which we all rely.”

The DMV sent cancellation notices Nov. 6 to drivers whose CDL expiration dates did not match their work authorization documents, a requirement under California regulation 13 CCR §26.02, not federal law. The agency acknowledged in correspondence with federal regulators that “shortcomings of its technical systems and processes” led to the mismatched dates.

The lawsuit names five individual plaintiffs and the Jakara Movement, a Fresno-based grassroots organization serving the Punjabi Sikh community. The drivers include a tech company bus driver caring for a severely disabled child, a tow truck company owner whose wife is expecting their third child in February, a 2024 Driver of the Year award recipient who recently purchased his first home, a school bus driver on parental leave, and a Central Valley school bus driver facing a 50% pay cut if forced into an alternative position.

At least one plaintiff received a cancellation letter despite his CDL expiration date exactly matching his work authorization document, according to the complaint. The DMV has not disclosed its methodology for identifying non-compliant licenses or how it verified the accuracy of its determinations.

The case highlights the significant role Sikh drivers play in American trucking. An estimated 150,000 Sikhs work in the U.S. trucking industry, representing roughly 20% of all truckers nationwide, according to the Sikhs Political Action Committee. In California, that figure approaches 40%, according to the North American Punjabi Trucking Association. The state is home to approximately 750,000 Punjabi Sikhs, with the largest concentration in the Central Valley.

Many Sikhs entered trucking after fleeing persecution in India following violence in 1984, filling positions as American truckers aged out of the workforce. Between 2017 and 2018 alone, 30,000 Sikhs joined the U.S. trucking industry. They have since built an ecosystem of Punjabi restaurants, truck stops, trucking schools and fleet companies along major freight corridors.

The complaint advances three legal theories. First, it argues California Vehicle Code Section 13100 requires licenses canceled due to error to be terminated “without prejudice,” allowing drivers to “immediately apply for a license.” The DMV’s refusal to accept applications for corrected CDLs violates this mandate, the plaintiffs contend.

Second, the lawsuit alleges the cancellations violate due process under the California Constitution by stripping property and liberty interests without meaningful notice, opportunity to be heard or avenue for relief. Third, the plaintiffs argue the DMV is acting beyond its statutory authority by effectively canceling licenses “with prejudice” when the law only authorizes cancellation “without prejudice.”

The situation involves two distinct regulatory issues that have become conflated. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an interim final rule Sept. 29 restricting non-domiciled CDL eligibility to H-2A, H-2B and E-2 visa holders, excluding asylum seekers, refugees and DACA recipients. The D.C. Circuit Court stayed that rule Nov. 13, finding petitioners were “likely to succeed” on claims that FMCSA violated federal law.

Separately, FMCSA’s 2025 Annual Program Review found that California had been violating federal regulations in effect before the emergency rule, with approximately 25% of the state’s non-domiciled CDLs improperly issued. The federal agency threatened to withhold more than $150 million in highway funding and potentially decertify California’s entire CDL program.

The DMV’s November cancellation letters cited “new federal guidelines issued on September 26, 2025”, a reference to the interim final rule that was stayed seven days after the letters were sent. The agency has not revised or withdrawn the letters.

California announced Dec. 17 it would begin reissuing licenses but reversed course Dec. 19 under federal pressure. “Given we are in compliance with federal regulations and state law, this delay by the federal government not only hurts our trucking industry, but it also leaves eligible drivers in the cold without any resolution during this holiday season,” said Eva Spiegel, deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs at the California DMV.

In its Oct. 26 response to FMCSA, the DMV argued the expiration date mismatches were “not a violation of federal law, which imposed no comparable requirement before the IFR, and thus is not a basis for withholding highway funding.” The agency stated it would “resume issuing non-domiciled CDLs on December 17, 2025.”

“Our state has a clear moral obligation and legal duty to protect workers who have done everything right,” said Katherine Zhao, senior staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus. “Without an immediate court-ordered stay, many drivers will lose their jobs through no fault of their own. At a moment when families should be spending time with loved ones, these workers are instead confronting financial devastation and the loss of livelihoods they have spent years building.”

California has more than 700,000 CDL holders and is home to the nation’s largest trucking workforce, with more than 138,000 truck drivers. Affected drivers transport freight, drive school buses, operate municipal waste trucks and deliver produce from the Central Valley.

The DMV website currently states that “until further notice, the California DMV cannot issue, reissue, or renew limited-term legal presence (non-domiciled) commercial driver’s licenses.” Field offices have informed affected drivers that they have no guidance and cannot assist them.

The lawsuit seeks class certification, a writ of mandate requiring the DMV to allow immediate reapplication for corrected licenses, and declaratory relief that the cancellation letters are null and void.