Supreme Court Says Truck Crash Victims Can Bring Negligent-Hiring Claims Against Freight Brokers
- May 14
- 3 min read
May 14, 2026
By Bruce Inosencio
A serious truck crash can change a person’s life in seconds. When that happens, the legal case often focuses on the truck driver and the trucking company. But in many modern freight shipments, another company may play an important role: the transportation broker.
A broker helps arrange the shipment. The broker connects the company that needs freight moved (the shipper) with the trucking company that will move it (the motor carrier).
In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, a unanimous Opinion of the United States Supreme Court released May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that injured people may bring state law negligent-hiring claims against transportation brokers. The Court held that these claims are not blocked by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, known as the FAAAA, when the claim is based on highway safety.
This is a major decision for truck accident litigation.
What Is the FAAAA?
The FAAAA is a federal law that limits how much states can regulate the trucking and freight industry. In simple terms, Congress wanted to stop each state from creating its own rules about trucking prices, routes, and services.
That makes sense for interstate transportation. A truck may cross several states in one trip. If every state had different economic rules, the national freight system could become difficult to manage.
But the FAAAA also has an important safety exception.
That exception says states still have authority over safety issues involving motor vehicles. In other words, Congress did not remove a state’s power to protect people from unsafe trucks on public roads.
What Was the Issue in Montgomery?
The injured plaintiff claimed that the broker should not have hired the motor carrier involved in the crash. The claim was not simply that a crash happened. The claim was that the broker knew, or should have known, that the trucking company was unsafe before selecting it for the shipment.
The broker argued that federal law — the FAAAA — blocked the claim.
The Supreme Court disagreed.
The Court held that a negligent hiring claim against a broker can fall within the safety exception of the FAAAA because the claim involves motor vehicle safety. The Court focused on the phrase “with respect to motor vehicles.” It explained that this phrase means the claim must concern or relate to motor vehicles.
A claim that a broker selected an unsafe trucking company to move freight by truck does concern motor vehicles. The truck is the very thing that creates the safety risk.
Why This Decision Matters
Before this ruling, federal courts were divided. Some courts allowed negligent-hiring claims against brokers. Other courts ruled that the FAAAA blocked those claims.
The Supreme Court has now resolved that split.
That means this issue should no longer depend on where the case is filed. The Court has made clear that the FAAAA does not automatically protect brokers from negligent hiring claims when the claim against the broker is based on safety.
What This Means for Truck Accident Victims
This decision means that lawyers can investigate whether the broker played a role in putting an unsafe carrier on the road.
That investigation may include questions like:
Did the broker check the carrier’s safety history?
Did the carrier have a poor safety rating?
Were there warning signs in federal safety records?
Had the carrier been involved in prior crashes?
Did the broker ignore information showing the carrier was unsafe?
These questions matter because truck crashes are often not caused by one bad decision. They are often caused by a chain of decisions made before the truck ever entered the road.
A Landmark Moment in Truck Accident Law
Montgomery is important because it recognizes how the freight industry actually works. Brokers often help decide which trucking companies get loads. If a broker carelessly selects an unsafe carrier, that decision can put everyone on the road at risk.
The Supreme Court’s ruling does not create automatic liability. It simply allows injured people to bring the claim and prove the facts.
For truck accident attorneys, this changes the strategy. The case should not stop with the driver or the motor carrier. Lawyers must continue to look carefully at the full transportation chain, including the broker that helped put the truck on the road.
That is why Montgomery is a landmark decision. It confirms that federal transportation law does not erase basic safety accountability.
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