After a wave of deadly crashes on America’s roadways, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could have major implications for trucking companies and freight brokers that hire unsafe, too often illegal immigrant, truck drivers.
The high court on Thursday issued a landmark ruling that freight brokers can be held liable for negligence in commercial vehicle crashes.
SCOTUS heard a case involving a man who filed a lawsuit against a major logistics company after he lost part of his leg in a semi tractor-trailer crash.
In the unanimous decision, the justices ruled in favor of petitioner Shawn Montgomery, whose parked vehicle was hit by a speeding truck driver on an Illinois highway in 2017.
SCOTUS Wire shared news of the decision, posting on X: “The Supreme Court ruled that federal law does not shield freight brokers from state negligence lawsuits when they hire unsafe trucking companies.”
🚨 The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that federal law does not shield freight brokers from state negligence lawsuits when they hire unsafe trucking companies. pic.twitter.com/bFIr3lFBNl
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) May 14, 2026
SCOTUS weighed in on the case, Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, because it deals with a law called the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which bans states from imposing economic regulations (like rate controls, routing mandates, or service requirements) that could affect the interstate flow of goods. The law, however, also gives an exception where safety is concerned.
Montgomery sued all respondents in Federal District Court and alleged, among other things, that C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., a transportation broker, was liable for his injuries because it negligently hired Yosniel Varela-Mojena and Caribe Transport II, LLC.
The driver, Varela-Mojena, was hauling a load of plastic pots through Illinois for motor carrier Caribe Transport. C.H. Robinson, the country’s largest freight broker by size, had coordinated the shipment.
Montgomery included the broker in its lawsuit, alleging it played a role in putting the driver on the road despite what he called “serious red flags,” the Associated Press reported.
According to Montgomery’s lawyers, Varela-Mojena had been cited for careless driving in another crash months earlier.
In addition, Caribe Transport had a history of known safety issues, including a poor safety rating, driver qualifications problems and crash history. The carrier had been involved with at least three crashes in a span of about five months, the AP reported.
Montgomery’s suit argued that Caribe Transport had a “conditional” safety rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration when C.H. Robinson hired it and therefore should share liability because it hired the carrier despite known problems, CDL Life reported.
The 9-0 Supreme Court decision overturns an earlier decision by the lower Court of Appeals, which ruled freight brokers were shielded from lawsuits because it is the federal government’s responsibility to regulate carriers.
SCOTUS determined that logistics companies may be liable under an exception to safety regulations. The decision was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, with a concurrence by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito.
The ruling ultimately hinged on the phrase “with respect to motor vehicles” in the FAAA safety exemption.
“Requiring C.H. Robinson to exercise ordinary care in selecting a carrier therefore “concerns” motor vehicles—most obviously, the trucks that will transport the goods. So, Montgomery’s negligent-hiring claim falls within the FAAAA’s safety exception, which saves it from preemption,” Barrett concluded.
In his opinion, Justice Kavanaugh wrote “the FAA Authorization Act of 1994 does not preempt state tort suits against brokers who negligently arrange truck transportation with an unsafe carrier.”
Despite the possibility of increased insurance costs for freight brokers, “truck safety is a matter of life and death,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The decision does not mean Montgomery will necessarily win the lawsuit, which the company is contesting, but it does open the door to increased liability for freight brokers, a key part of the industry.
“Until today, trucking companies were not liable for hiring these unvetted, unsafe, illegal drivers,” Not the Bee commented on the ruling. “They could point to a fraudulently obtained license out of a liberal state and say they thought the driver was legit. Whoever the driver killed while he was behind the wheel was not their problem.”
C.H. Robinson also issued a statement in response to the ruling.
“While we are disappointed in the Court’s decision, we will continue to operate responsibly, support stronger federal enforcement, and work constructively with regulators, carriers, and customers to strengthen the national safety system and support safe, reliable transportation across the country,” said Dorothy Capers, Chief Legal Officer at C.H. Robinson.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has taken measures to crack down on illegal truck drivers with non-domiciled commercial drivers’ licenses. However, the Trump administration and companies such as Amazon have opposed the SCOTUS ruling.
They argued that letting the suit go forward would expose logistics companies to liability under a “patchwork” of state laws, the Associated Press reported.
The Transportation Intermediaries Association, an industry group, said the decision was “deeply disappointing.”
“This is like asking travel agents to evaluate the safety of a given airline despite the fact that the airline has been licensed to fly by the federal government,” Chris Burroughs, the group’s president and CEO, told the AP.
Two dozen states backed Montgomery’s lawsuit and appeal, citing the need to bolster safety in an industry that moves tons of goods through interstate travel, the AP reported.
A spate of fatal crashes has revealed serious issues on U.S. highways, highlighting that many truck drivers are illegals who cannot speak English or read road signs.
New York and California, the two largest blue states in America, regularly hand out CDLs with No Name Given to illegal immigrants.
Last fall, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked with state highway officials to set up checkpoints in several states to identify illegal truck drivers and highlight the extent of the problem.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has sounded the alarm about truck driving schools and Chameleon Carrier companies that specialize in helping unqualified foreign drivers obtain a CDL then allow these dangerous drivers to haul loads across the country.
Other investigative reports found companies across the nation, even in “red” states like Ohio, advertise their CDL courses to migrant populations living in the U.S.
Not the Bee reported that Sikh Indians have more than 12,000 trucking companies and now make up 20% of truck drivers in Canada and the United States. That’s an estimated 150,000 drivers, and they hire almost exclusively Sikh employees
The SCOTUS ruling could have far-reaching effects for the industry and put bad actors out of business. Now that brokers could be held liable for carrier accidents, brokers will have to scrutinize the safety records of the truckers they contract with instead of just looking for the cheapest and fastest option.
“More than 28,000 federally licensed brokers currently operate in the United States with virtually no meaningful federal safety oversight regarding how they select carriers,” Brian Watt, who runs a freight logistics company in Florida, said in a post on LinkedIn per the Associated Press.
News of the decision quickly spread in trucking circles, with one truck driver sharing a video talking about foreigner truckers not being able to get loads out of Ohio because “the freight brokers won’t work with them anymore.” He also looked into their DOT numbers and said they had substantial track records of unsafe behavior, accidents and high out-of-service rates.
It took less than 24 hours for brokers to tighten the belt after the Supreme Court ruled that brokers could be held liable for carrier accidents WOW!
#Truckers #trucking #truckinglife @topfans pic.twitter.com/MEnvzcKkar
— GRANDPA’s FREE ADVICE (@GOP_is_Gutless) May 16, 2026
“This is going to be changing in a hurry,” he said in the video. “…You better hope to God you have a proven track record with these brokers because they’re on the hook now. They’re on the hook in ways that they’ve never experienced before.”
