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Jimmy Haslam, third from the left, watches his team during a minicamp session this week. A North Carolina truck driver sued Haslam's family business, Pilot Flying J, in U.S. District Court in Pensacola on Friday.

(The Plain Dealer)

A North Carolina truck driver sued Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J on Friday, claiming Haslam's employees prepared false backup reports to conceal a widespread fraud involving the company's fuel rebate program.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., Jerry Floyd says the company withheld tens of millions of dollars in diesel fuel price rebates and discounts from customers since 2005.

His suit marks the seventh case filed against Haslam's family company. (Read the lawsuit in the document viewer below)

Floyd, who lives in Alexander County, N.C., filed the suit in Florida because he said in the lawsuit that he does much of his business there. He is an owner/operator with his own truck. The lawsuit does not specify how much he lost from the company.

"It's a crying shame," he said Friday. "I have a saying: Don't trust anyone, and you'll never be disappointed."

Like many of the other suits, Floyd seeks a judge's permission to have the case become a class-action lawsuit, meaning other companies affected in the rebate program can join in the litigation. It alleges breach of contract, fraud and fraudulent concealment.

"Defendants prepared false backup reports and data to provide to customers to conceal defendants' fraud," the suit says. It says Pilot Flying J employees attributed any problems with the rebate system to "computer glitches" when speaking with trucking companies.

Last month, FBI and IRS agents raided the company's headquarters in Knoxville. In an affidavit, an FBI agent said some sales employees withheld fuel price rebates and discounts from certain companies to boost the company's profits and their commissions. The document also says Haslam knew about the scheme, as he had been in sales meetings where the scheme was discussed.

On Thursday, Haslam told hundreds of trucking company officials in Indianapolis that he was "absolutely not aware of" the scheme.

No one has been charged.

The lawsuit piggybacks on the FBI affidavit, saying how certain sales staff employees "took advantage of Spanish-speaking customers" and quotes a regional sales director as saying "there is a language barrier. So you can get away with a little bit more because they know that they are not going to understand everything that you say."

The suit continues the legal saga for Haslam, the owner of the Browns, that appears to be just beginning as federal authorities continue to investigate Pilot Flying J's rebate system.

On Friday, a reporter for Sports Illustrated wrote on its web site that Haslam's legal issues may come up next week at a league owners meeting in Boston, saying that "Haslam's legal issues have nothing to do with the Browns per se, but everything to do with his ownership of the team, and thus his fellow owners will be eager to hear from him and where he perceives the case is headed."

A spokesman for the NFL said Friday that Haslam has kept Commissioner Roger Goodell informed and said the issue affects Haslam's private company and not his handling of the Browns.

A spokesman for Haslam has said that class-action lawsuits are predictable in cases where allegations of wrongdoing take place, and he said the company will defend the cases appropriately.