FAAAA (Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994)

The FAAAA is the 1994 federal statute that historically preempted most state-law claims related to a freight broker's prices, routes, or services, until the Supreme Court's 2026 Montgomery v. Caribe Transport ruling carved out negligent-hiring claims under a safety exception.

The FAAAA was enacted to extend airline-style economic deregulation to interstate trucking and brokerage. The preemption clause was broad. The statute also contained a safety exception preserving state authority to regulate safety with respect to motor vehicles.

On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court held unanimously in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that the safety exception covers state-law negligent-hiring claims against brokers. The preemption defense brokers relied on for decades is now closed for this category of claim.

Why this matters for freight brokers

The FAAAA preemption defense was the broker's primary legal shield against negligent-hiring claims for thirty years. Post-Montgomery, that shield is gone. Vetting documentation now bears the defensive weight the FAAAA used to.

Related terms

• Negligent hiring (broker liability theory) — Negligent hiring in the broker context is a state-law tort claim alleging that a freight broker selected a motor carrier the broker knew or should have known was unsafe.
• Broker bond ($75,000 federal surety) — The freight broker bond is the $75,000 federal financial responsibility requirement FMCSA mandates for every property broker, satisfied via BMC-84 surety bond or BMC-85 trust fund.

Sources

• Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II opinion