The Broker Liability Reset

What the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling means for every freight broker and shipper in America

What This Means for Freight Brokers Right Now

On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC that freight brokers can be sued in state court for negligently selecting unsafe carriers. The federal preemption defense brokers leaned on for years is gone. The Ninth Circuit got there first in 2020, so California brokers have been exposed for a while. Now it is every state. Here is where to focus

Four Moves to Make Before Your Next Load Tender

Build a written carrier qualification standard

Minimum safety rating, insurance thresholds, BASIC percentile limits, authority age. Put it on paper so every booking is measured against the same bar.

Document the safety data at every load tender

Save the FMCSA SAFER company snapshot and the SMS BASIC percentiles the day you book. A dated screenshot is worth more than a clean record you pull six months later.

Set automatic disqualifiers

Conditional safety ratings, recent out-of-service orders, BASIC percentiles above FMCSAs intervention threshold in Unsafe Driving or Hours of Service. If a carrier triggers one, the load does not move until a human reviews and documents the exception.

Lock down your carrier packet

Current operating authority, valid insurance certificates naming your company, and a signed broker-carrier agreement on file before the first load.

Close the Re-Brokering Gap

Californias negligent hiring standard requires the injured party to prove the broker knew, or should have known, that the carrier was unfit. That standard is built around the carrier you selected, not the one that quietly takes the load without your knowledge.

Double brokering, where a carrier or an imposter resells your load to an unvetted third party, is one of the fastest-growing fraud problems in freight. It can undo even strong documentation.

Close it. Prohibit re-brokering in your carrier agreement without prior written consent. Vet any approved substitute the same way you vetted the first. Confirm the MC number, DOT number, truck, and driver match at pickup. Treat an unauthorized handoff as a material breach and keep the record.

This reaches beyond freight brokers. Construction, manufacturing, distribution- anyone hiring motor carriers faces the same question a jury will ask a broker: what did you know about who you put on the road? People decisions are risk decisions. Who you hire, how you vet them, and whether you document it is where claims start or stop.