Forza Intelligence · Risk and liability

On 15 May 2026 the Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC unanimously. Federal law does not shield freight brokers from state negligent-hiring claims. Carrier selection is now a liability question, not only an operational one.

What the Court actually held

The question was whether the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 preempts state tort claims against a broker for negligently selecting an unsafe motor carrier. The FAAAA broadly preempts state laws related to a broker’s prices, routes or services, but it carves out an exception preserving the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles.

Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Barrett held that the safety exception covers negligent-hiring claims. Brokers can therefore face state tort suits for negligent carrier selection.

Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence is the part brokers should read twice. Brokers who act reasonably and select reputable carriers, he wrote, should be able to successfully defend against such suits. The ruling creates exposure. It does not make every broker a defendant.

The defence is not that you were preempted. The defence is that you were careful, and that you can prove it.

What changes for shippers

  • Your broker’s vetting is now discoverable. What was an internal habit is now potential evidence. Whether the process existed, whether it ran on your load, and whether anyone wrote it down all become answerable questions after an incident.
  • “We check FMCSA” is a thin answer. Given that the federal record is silent for the large majority of carriers, a process that terminates at a single lookup is going to look considerably worse in hindsight than it does in a sales meeting.
  • Documentation is the differentiator. A broker who verified carefully but recorded nothing is in a materially worse position than one who can produce what was checked, against which sources, on which date, for that specific load.

What to ask before you tender

  • What sources do you check, and are they independent of each other?
  • What happens when the federal safety record returns nothing?
  • Do you re-verify after booking, or only before?
  • If this load were the subject of a claim in eighteen months, what could you produce about how this carrier was selected?

The last question is the one that separates a protocol from a habit. A broker who has thought about it will answer immediately.

This is general commentary for shippers, not legal advice. Forza Logistics Group is not a law firm. For how a decision like this affects your own contracts and risk position, talk to your counsel. Sources: the opinion and SCOTUSblog’s analysis.