The Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC this morning. Unanimous. Nine to zero. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion. Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed a concurrence, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, calling the case closer than the majority suggested while agreeing with the result.
A negligent-hiring claim against a freight broker is not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. The FAAAA''s safety exception, 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A), saves it. Eight pages. No dissent.
The Ruling, In Eight Pages
The FAAAA preempts state laws "related to a price, route, or service" of a motor carrier or broker. But the safety exception preserves "the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles." The court asked one question: is a negligent-hiring claim against a broker a claim "with respect to motor vehicles"?
Relying on its prior construction in Dan''s City Used Cars v. Pelkey (2013), the court held that the phrase means "concerns." Requiring C.H. Robinson to exercise ordinary care in selecting a carrier concerns the trucks that transport the goods. Therefore, it is preserved.
The Seventh Circuit''s 2023 decision in Ye v. GlobalTranz — the case that gave brokers their preemption shield — is reversed. Shawn Montgomery, the driver who lost his leg when a Mack Truck hauling plastic pots veered off course in Illinois, can now pursue his claim against C.H. Robinson.
"Better to live with the mystery than to rewrite the statute." — Justice Barrett
Kavanaugh''s Roadmap
Kavanaugh''s concurrence is the most honest accounting of the competing interests any federal judge has put on paper in this area. The FAAAA was an economic deregulation statute, not a safety deregulation statute. Congress left state tort suits against trucking companies fully intact. It would be odd to read the same statute as granting brokers complete immunity from the consequences of selecting the carrier that caused the accident.
The killer paragraph: there is no meaningful federal safety regulation of broker carrier-selection practices. FMCSA requires brokers to pick a federally registered carrier and not much else. If state tort law were preempted and federal law imposed no standard, brokers would operate in a "black hole with no meaningful safety-related regulation."
Kavanaugh closed with the numbers. In 2022, roughly 500,000 truck accidents resulted in approximately 5,000 deaths and 114,000 injuries. If brokers can be held liable for disregarding poor safety records, "they have a strong incentive to do business only with safe and reliable motor carriers."
What Brokers Need To Do This Week
The legal standard is now ordinary care. The questions a jury will ask in every state in America:
- Did you check the carrier''s safety record?
- Was the carrier''s FMCSA data available to you?
- Did the data show elevated crash rates, conditional safety ratings, high out-of-service percentages, or prior enforcement history?
- Did you have a documented process for evaluating carrier safety?
- Or did you book the cheapest truck and move on?
If you do not have a documented carrier vetting process, that absence is itself evidence. FMCSA''s SAFER system, SMS BASIC percentile scores, crash rates, and inspection history are free and public. If a carrier''s data shows elevated risk and you book them anyway, a plaintiff''s attorney will ask you why three years from now. Have an answer.
The Insurance Reckoning
The existing broker surety bond requirement under 49 U.S.C. § 13906 is $75,000 — a financial responsibility bond, not liability insurance. Most freight brokers carry some general liability and contingent cargo coverage. Very few carry the kind of excess liability coverage that would respond to a catastrophic negligent-hiring verdict.
The nuclear-verdict environment that has produced eight- and nine-figure outcomes against motor carriers now applies to brokers. The insurance market has not priced this exposure. When it does, premiums for brokers without a systematic, data-driven vetting methodology will move sharply.
Bottom Line
This decision does not rewrite the rules of physics. It removed a procedural shield. The underlying obligation to exercise reasonable care in selecting a carrier is the same standard shippers and carriers already operate under. Document the process. Check the data. Keep the records. Call your insurance broker today.
