What changed on May 14, 2026
In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, the Supreme Court of the United States held unanimously that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 does not preempt state-law negligent-hiring claims against freight brokers. The case arose from a fatal Illinois Interstate 70 accident involving a tractor-trailer hauling a load arranged by broker C.H. Robinson. Justice Barrett wrote for the unanimous court that negligent-hiring claims fall within the FAAAA's safety-regulation exception and therefore proceed in state court.
For decades prior, the FAAAA preemption defense knocked out most negligent-hiring claims against brokers at the pleading stage. Brokers in most circuits could move to dismiss before discovery and prevail. That defense is now gone.
The defense stack
A defensible negligent-hiring posture rests on three pillars that stack together. None of them is sufficient alone.
Pillar 1: contingent auto liability insurance
Contingent auto liability is the line of coverage that responds to third-party bodily-injury and property-damage claims when the motor carrier's primary auto coverage fails. This is the insurance that actually pays a negligent-hiring judgment. Small and mid-size brokers should carry $1M to $5M; brokers regularly running high-value loads or hazmat should carry $10M+ via excess layers.
The $75,000 federal broker bond does not respond to bodily-injury claims. It covers carrier non-payment and cargo claims, period. Treating the bond as liability coverage is the single most expensive mistake a broker can make.
Pillar 2: documented carrier vetting
Insurance pays the claim. Documentation shapes what the claim looks like. A broker who can produce a contemporaneous, tamper-proof record of FMCSA safety rating, CSA scores, insurance currency, and operating authority at the moment of booking is in a fundamentally different position than a broker who cannot.
The standard is not subjective. The defense lawyer can introduce the per-load record into evidence. Plaintiff's counsel can cross-examine on it. A jury can see, in dated screenshots and signed certificates, that the broker checked what reasonable care requires before tendering the load.
Pillar 3: transportation-specialist defense counsel
The insurer will appoint defense counsel as part of the policy. That is appropriate. Brokers should separately consider engaging a transportation-specialist attorney for advice that is purely theirs, independent of the insurer's coverage interests. The independent counsel reviews coverage letters, advises on settlement strategy, and supports the broker on strategic decisions that affect the business beyond the case.
Identifying counsel in advance, before a claim arrives, beats scrambling at the moment of service.
The risk landscape post-Montgomery
- Median trucking verdict: approximately $36 million as of current industry data. The median has roughly quadrupled since 2010.
- Nuclear verdicts ($10M+): more than 500 per year in trucking-related litigation; verdicts above $100M are now annual events.
- Plaintiff bar activity: the post-Montgomery environment has been broadly received by plaintiff's firms as a green light. Expect a material uptick in broker-direct claims within months.
- Insurance market response: contingent auto liability underwriters are tightening, raising rates, and asking pointed questions about documented vetting processes.
Building the posture before a claim arrives
The cheapest time to build a negligent-hiring defense is before you need one. The actual to-do list for any active broker:
- Verify your insurance stack. Confirm contingent auto liability and contingent cargo are in force with limits appropriate to your load mix. If you do not have contingent auto, call your insurance broker today.
- Write your carrier vetting process document. One page. What you check, how you document it, when you re-check, what disqualifies a carrier. Hand to your underwriter at next renewal.
- Stand up the capture and lock workflow. Per load, per carrier, at booking. VettedHaul is purpose-built for this; a folder-of-PDFs system is the bare minimum starting point.
- Identify defense counsel in advance. A transportation attorney whose name you have in your contacts and who has a working knowledge of your operation. A 30-minute intro call costs nothing.
- Run continuous monitoring on all active carriers. Weekly check, logged response to any alert.
The first 30 days after service
When a process server hands you a complaint, the next 30 days determine the trajectory of the case. The first 72 hours specifically:
- Stop talking. Do not contact the plaintiff, the carrier, or plaintiff's counsel. Anything you say is discoverable.
- Notify your insurer. Within 24-48 hours, written notice under the policy's claims provisions.
- Retain counsel. The insurer appoints defense counsel; separately consider independent transportation counsel for advice that is purely yours.
- Issue a litigation hold. Written notice to all employees preserving every record related to the carrier and the load. Spoliation sanctions are severe; the hold itself is a defensive artifact.
Days 1 through 30 then focus on assembling the carrier file, responding to early discovery, evaluating removal to federal court, and reviewing the insurer's coverage position. A broker who maintained tamper-proof per-load records prior to the incident produces the file in a day. A broker without that record takes weeks.
What documented vetting is worth in litigation
Two brokers, same wreck, same defendant position. Broker A has $5M in contingent auto liability and a per-load locked record. Broker B has $5M in contingent auto liability and a spreadsheet.
Broker A's case settles in mediation within 6-12 months for a number well below the policy limit. The defense lawyer hands the plaintiff's lawyer the evidence pack at the first substantive conversation. Plaintiff's counsel sees a defendant who will put up a fight and a documented standard of reasonable care.
Broker B's case goes through 18 months of discovery as plaintiff's counsel rebuilds the missing documentation through subpoenas to FMCSA, the carrier, the carrier's insurance agent, and Broker B's former employees. The settlement number is materially higher. The case consumes management attention for years.
Same insurance, different outcome. The variable is the record.
The bottom line
Negligent-hiring exposure is now a permanent feature of the freight broker business. The federal preemption defense is gone and is not coming back. The brokers who build the defense stack this quarter (insurance, documented vetting, identified counsel) will be in a different category from those who don't when claims arrive. Documentation is the lever that moves outcomes more than any single policy limit.