Overview
- The Supreme Court, which ruled 9-0 Thursday, held that the federal law preempting state rules on prices, routes, and services does not block negligent-hiring claims against brokers when the claims concern motor-vehicle safety.
- The ruling reverses the Seventh Circuit and sends Shawn Montgomery’s case back to court, letting him pursue his claim against C.H. Robinson after a crash that cost him a leg.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the statute’s safety exception saves these claims, while preemption still applies to state measures that regulate pricing, routing, or broker services unrelated to safety.
- Freight brokers connect shippers with carriers and arrange about a third of U.S. truck freight, so the decision could expose more brokers to state lawsuits over how they pick carriers.
- Montgomery alleges C.H. Robinson overlooked Caribe Transport’s FMCSA “conditional” rating that flagged driver qualification, hours-of-service, maintenance, and crash-rate problems.