Supreme Court Rules Freight Brokers Can Be Sued for Negligently Hiring Unsafe Carriers

In May 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court settled one of the biggest liability questions in freight: whether a broker can be held responsible under state law for hiring an unsafe motor carrier. In a unanimous ruling issued May 14, 2026, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, the Court said it can.

The case

Shawn Montgomery, a truck driver, suffered severe and permanent injuries in 2017 when his tractor-trailer, parked on an Illinois highway, was struck by a truck operated for Caribe Transport II. Transport Topics reported that he lost part of his leg. The Caribe truck was hauling a load of plastic pots that had been arranged by C.H. Robinson Worldwide. Montgomery sued the broker, arguing that it knew or should have known from Caribe's safety record that hiring the carrier was likely to lead to crashes.

A federal district court threw out the claim against C.H. Robinson, holding that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which preempts state laws related to the prices, routes and services of the trucking industry, blocked it. The Seventh Circuit agreed.

The ruling

The Supreme Court reversed. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the Court, focused on the law's safety exception, which says preemption "shall not restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles."

"This case presents the question whether a claim that one company negligently hired another to transport goods falls within that exception. It does," Barrett wrote. The Court reasoned that requiring a broker to use ordinary care in picking a carrier concerns motor vehicles, "most obviously, the trucks that will transport the goods." State laws on rates, routes and services that have nothing to do with safety remain preempted.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote a concurrence calling the case closer than the majority suggested and noting that the Seventh and Eleventh Circuits had ruled the other way. He warned that litigation and insurance costs "will cascade through the economy and be paid in part by American consumers in the form of higher prices," but also wrote that "truck safety is a matter of life and death." He added that the decision "should not be read to mean that brokers will routinely be subject to state tort liability in the wake of truck accidents."

Reaction

The Transportation Intermediaries Association called the decision "deeply disappointing." "This is like asking travel agents to evaluate the safety of a given airline despite the fact that the airline has been licensed to fly by the federal government," TIA said in its statement. The group said brokers would continue to "vigorously defend" negligent-selection claims, since plaintiffs still must prove causation and a breach of the standard of care.

C.H. Robinson Chief Legal Officer Dorothy Capers told Transport Topics the company was disappointed and pointed to the concurrence's line on routine liability.

Transport Topics reported that more than two dozen states had backed Montgomery, while the Trump administration and Amazon had argued against exposing logistics companies to a patchwork of state laws.

What it means for drivers and fleets

Brokers now face real legal exposure for the carriers they choose, and many can be expected to tighten vetting. Carriers with poor safety scores, recent crashes, conditional ratings or thin records may find fewer loads offered by brokers.

For carriers, keeping clean inspection and crash data, challenging inaccurate entries and documenting safety programs becomes even more important to staying on brokers' approved lists. For injured drivers and other crash victims, the ruling opens a path to pursue the broker as well as the carrier.