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Supreme Court  ·  May 14, 2026  ·  9–0

Your carrier selection
can now be judged
by a jury

Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC (No. 24-1238), decided May 14, 2026. Opinion by Justice Barrett.

What the court decided

Federal preemption
no longer applies

For years, freight brokers relied on a straightforward legal defense: the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) preempts state-law claims that relate to a broker’s services. That defense killed negligent-hiring claims before plaintiffs ever reached discovery. The Supreme Court unanimously removed it.

In a 9–0 opinion authored by Justice Barrett, the Court held that state-law negligent-hiring claims against freight brokers are not preempted by the FAAAA. The ruling reverses the Seventh Circuit, resolves a long-standing circuit split, and brings negligent-hiring litigation against brokers firmly into the domain of state tort law.

What changed

What it means in practice

Three things
every broker should know

01
Discovery is now the default
Without preemption, negligent-hiring suits reach discovery. That means your carrier selection process — every lookup, every check, every decision — is subject to document requests, depositions, and expert review.
02
Undocumented checks don’t exist
A carrier check that was not recorded at the time it was conducted is legally invisible. Memory is not evidence. If your due diligence cannot be produced as a contemporaneous record, it did not happen as far as a court is concerned.
03
Your file is your defense
The standard a jury applies is whether the broker acted reasonably. A complete, timestamped, per-load verification record is the most direct evidence of a reasonable carrier selection process.

FreightSeal

A defensible due diligence
record for every load

Each FreightSeal verification creates a timestamped record across four independent layers:

The result is a single, documented verification record per load — contemporaneous, retrievable, and structured for legal review.

Start documenting — 10 verifications free

Questions

After Montgomery

The FAAAA preemption defense that freight brokers used to defeat negligent-hiring claims before discovery is no longer available. State-law negligent-hiring claims against brokers now proceed on their merits under state tort standards. Brokers cannot terminate these suits at the pleadings stage on federal grounds.
Onboarding screening is performed once, at carrier registration, and reflects the carrier’s status at that point in time. Per-load verification confirms the carrier’s identity, authority, and insurance at the moment of dispatch for a specific shipment. Carrier accounts can be hijacked, authority revoked, or insurance lapsed between onboarding and dispatch. A per-load record documents what was confirmed for that specific load.
From your FreightSeal broker dashboard, open the Verifications tab and search by carrier DOT, load number, or date. Each verification record includes the timestamp, the carrier details confirmed at the time, COI data, and pickup verification status. Records can be exported from the dashboard.
No. FreightSeal is a verification tool that creates documented records of carrier due diligence. Nothing on this page or within the FreightSeal platform constitutes legal advice. Consult qualified legal counsel for guidance specific to your situation and jurisdiction.

This page is for informational purposes and is not legal advice. FreightSeal is a verification tool, not a law firm. The description of Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is a summary for general awareness and may not reflect all legal nuances. Consult qualified legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.