In a 9-0 ruling the Supreme Court handed down a surprising opinion that federal law does not shield transportation brokers from state-level personal injury lawsuits if the broker is shown to have been negligent in choosing a particular motor carrier. This holding will likely have a far-ranging and sweeping impact on the management of freight on a nationwide basis.
The opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, clarified that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) only preempts those state laws that that relate to prices, routes and services—not those that relate to motor vehicle safety.
The case itself involved a claimant, Shawn Montgomery, who sustained injuries after his tractor trailer was struck by a truck driven by Yosniel Varela-Mojena, a driver employed by Caribe Transport II, LLC. Transportation broker C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. had coordinated the shipment. Montgomery sued all three, alleging that Robinson Worldwide was negligent in hiring Varela-Mojena and Caribe because it knew, or should have known, that, with Caribe Transport’s safety rating, hiring it to transport goods was reasonably likely to result in crashes that would injure others.
The District Court held that the FAAAA expressly preempted the negligent hiring claim against Robinson Worldwide and that the claim did not fall within the FAAAA’s safety exception. That exception provides that the FAAAA’s preemption “shall not restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles.” The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the issue and reversed, holding that “[A] . claim that one company negligently hired another to transport goods is not preempted by the FAAAA because States retain authority to regulate safety “with respect to motor vehicles” under the Act.”
A number of trucking organizations are carefully studying this opinion to determine strategy for brokers moving forward. At the very least, the opinion will create a higher burden on brokers to perform due diligence when selecting which carrier to select to haul loads.
