The Supreme Court's recent unanimous ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II has removed a long-standing procedural shield that let many brokers avoid deep scrutiny of carrier safety, according to a Contributed Content analysis on FreightWaves. The decision leaves the transportation industry facing the same fundamental problem: there is no dependable way to gauge a motor carrier's safety at the moment of selection.
The Montgomery Decision: What Changed
The Court did not create a new duty of care or make brokers automatically liable, the analysis stresses. It resolved a circuit split on whether the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) preempts state-law negligent selection claims. The Ninth Circuit had held that the FAAAA's safety exception preserves those claims; the Seventh Circuit had disagreed. The Supreme Court unanimously sided with the Ninth Circuit.
What changed is the procedural landscape. In roughly half the country, courts had treated FAAAA preemption as a complete defense, allowing brokers to get negligent selection suits dismissed early. That defense is now gone. Claims that survive a motion to dismiss will proceed into expensive discovery and potentially to trial, because ordinary care is a question of fact for a jury.
| Aspect | Pre-Montgomery | Post-Montgomery |
|---|---|---|
| FAAAA preemption defense | Available in many circuits to dismiss suits at pleading stage | No longer a complete defense; cases go to discovery |
| Broker exposure | Lower risk of litigation costs | Higher risk of costly discovery and potential jury trial |
| Carrier vetting incentive | Minimal, because of easy dismissal | Stronger incentive to vet carriers thoroughly |
As the analysis puts it: "That's not nothing."
The SMS Data Problem
The article is sharply critical of the rush to rely on FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) data as a solution. It notes that FMCSA itself has posted a disclaimer on its SMS website stating that the scores are "performance data the agency uses to decide whom to monitor," that a flag is "not intended to imply any federal safety rating" under 49 U.S.C. 31144, and that readers "should not draw conclusions about a carrier's overall safety condition" from the data.
"A reliable signal, built on the wrong foundation" – FreightWaves analysis on the use of SMS data for safety ratings.
The analysis also criticizes FMCSA's safety fitness determinations from compliance reviews and focused audits, calling them among the least trustworthy measures. The skepticism is rooted in the agency's own admission and a 2011 settlement with three trucking associations that challenged the public display of CSA data.
Industry Response and Next Steps
In the wake of the Montgomery ruling, industry groups are pressing for change:
- The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) has petitioned FMCSA for a federal carrier selection standard and a public list of high-risk carriers.
- The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has urged the agency to modernize how it determines safety fitness.
- Opportunists from within and outside the industry are pitching paid "solutions" to fill the information gap, according to the analysis.
The article, however, warns against relying on the two most commonly floated tools: SMS data and safety fitness determinations. It argues that the industry needs a fundamentally different approach, not just a repackaging of flawed data.
For logistics managers and 3PL operators, the immediate implication is clear: broker due diligence processes must be strengthened to withstand negligence claims, and the data sources currently used to assess carrier safety may not hold up in court. As the analysis concludes, the Montgomery decision did not change the substantive law of negligence, but it did remove the "procedural exit ramp" that allowed many in the industry to avoid thinking too hard about carrier selection.
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