Supreme Court Allows Negligent Hiring Suits Against Freight Brokers

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that federal law does not prevent injured parties from suing freight brokers under state negligent hiring laws when those brokers select unsafe trucking companies, a decision stemming from a 2017 crash in Illinois that severely injured a truck driver.

Shawn Montgomery lost part of his leg when his parked tractor-trailer was struck by a speeding semi-truck on Interstate 70. The truck, hauling plastic pots for Caribe Transport II, had been arranged by C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the nation's largest freight broker by revenue. Montgomery alleged that C.H. Robinson ignored safety red flags, including the carrier's poor federal safety rating involving driver qualifications, hours-of-service violations, maintenance issues and a high crash rate. The truck driver, Yosniel Varela-Mojena, had been cited for careless driving in a prior crash, and the carrier had been linked to at least three accidents in five months.

C.H. Robinson argued that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994, known as the FAAAA, preempted Montgomery's state-law claims by shielding brokers from regulations on prices, routes or services. A federal...