Supreme Court unanimously backs crash victim's right to sue freight broker over dangerous hauler

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that Shawn Montgomery, an Illinois man who lost part of his leg in a 2017 tractor-trailer crash, can sue the freight broker that arranged the load, a decision that strips a key legal shield from an industry long insulated from accountability for the dangerous drivers it puts on American roads.

The ruling in the case against Minnesota-based C.H. Robinson, the country's largest freight broker, rejected arguments from the company, the Trump administration, and other large trucking interests that federal transportation law blocks state-court negligence claims against brokers. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the Court, found that the very federal exemptions the broker cited contain a safety exception broad enough to cover Montgomery's claim.

The decision matters beyond one man's lawsuit. It opens the door for crash victims across the country to hold logistics companies legally responsible when they hire carriers with documented safety problems, a practice that, as CBS News has investigated, has contributed to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries tied to so-called "chameleon carriers" that dodge federal oversight by reincarnating under new names.

The crash and the claim

In 2017, a speeding truck driver slammed into Shawn Montgomery's parked vehicle in Illinois. Montgomery lost part of his leg. He sued C.H. Robinson, alleging the broker negligently hired the carrier despite what he described as "serious red flags", including the driver's prior careless-driving citation and the carrier's involvement in multiple crashes within months, as the Washington Times reported.

A lower court dismissed the lawsuit. An appeals court in Chicago affirmed. Montgomery took his case to the Supreme Court.

C.H. Robinson argued that federal regulation of carriers preempted state-law claims, meaning brokers should not face liability for safety screening that, in their view, belongs to the federal government, which licenses haulers. The Trump administration sided with the industry on that preemption argument, contending that allowing such lawsuits would expose brokers to liability under a convoluted mix of state laws.

The Court disagreed. Barrett wrote that the federal transportation law's own safety exception covers exactly the kind of negligent-hiring claim Montgomery brought:

"Requiring C.H. Robinson to exercise ordinary care in selecting a carrier therefore concerns motor vehicles, most obviously, the trucks that will transport the goods. So Montgomery's negligent-hiring claim falls with the [law]'s safety exception."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a concurrence noted by AP News, put it more bluntly: "Truck safety is a matter of life and death."

An industry that has outrun its regulators

The ruling lands in the middle of a trucking industry that has grown far faster than the federal apparatus meant to police it. Since 2015, the number of trucking firms has surged 31 percent. Over that same period, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's workforce shrank by 10 percent.

A CBS News investigation published last month documented the consequences. The network's analysis of millions of Department of Transportation records found that the government approved at least 10,000 reconstituted "chameleon carriers" just since 2021, companies that had been flagged or shut down for safety problems and simply reopened under new names.

Those reincarnated carriers are four times more likely to be involved in severe crashes than companies that have not been reconstituted. Over the last five years, at least 141 people have died and 1,800 have been injured in crashes involving these operators. The investigation also identified more than 30,000 carriers using fake or undeliverable registration addresses.

The Supreme Court has been at the center of several consequential decisions this term, and its role as an institution continues to draw public attention. Chief Justice Roberts recently addressed that scrutiny directly, warning that personal attacks on judges carry real consequences for the judiciary's independence.

The Christmas Eve crash

One case highlighted in the CBS News investigation illustrates the human cost. On Christmas Eve 2022, a semi-truck crossed the median on I-75 in Ohio and slammed into an SUV and a pickup. Four members of a single family were killed.

The truck was operated by BLF Truck Transportation, a company that had previously operated under three other names, each flagged by regulators for safety concerns. Alexander Delgado, who ran BLF, testified in a deposition obtained by CBS News that a representative from C.H. Robinson coached him to "open up another" trucking company after his previous outfit faced a government shutdown for safety problems.

C.H. Robinson has said BLF deceived the company by double-brokering a load. But the broader pattern, carriers reincarnating to dodge oversight, brokers failing to screen them, and federal regulators missing red flags in their own data, raises questions about whether the industry's self-policing model has failed entirely.

Michael Leizerman, the attorney who represented Montgomery and other crash victims, said the ruling could pressure brokers to weed out dangerous drivers. As he put it:

"They don't end up behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle unless someone hires them to do so. And many times that's the large brokers like C.H. Robinson."

That argument cuts to the core of the case. Freight brokers sit at the center of the supply chain. They choose which carriers haul which loads. When they choose badly, or choose not to look, the consequences fall on ordinary drivers and their families.

C.H. Robinson responds

Dorothy Capers, C.H. Robinson's chief legal officer, issued a statement expressing disappointment but pledging continued cooperation with regulators. She said safety remains foundational to the company:

"Our hearts continue to go out to the victims of truck accidents. Safety is foundational to who we are, our employees and their families travel these same roads, and our business depends on safe freight delivery."

She added that the company would "continue to operate responsibly, support stronger federal enforcement, and work constructively with regulators, carriers, and customers to strengthen the national safety system."

The statement is careful. It does not concede negligence. It does not address the specific allegations about coaching carriers to reopen under new names. And it shifts responsibility toward "stronger federal enforcement", the same federal system the CBS News investigation found is understaffed and overwhelmed.

The Court's current term has produced several high-profile decisions that will shape law and policy for years. Justice Thomas recently called for an end to race-based redistricting after a Louisiana ruling, and the justices continue to take up cases with broad national implications.

What the ruling means going forward

Thursday's decision does not find C.H. Robinson liable. It sends the case back for trial. But the legal precedent is significant. Freight brokers can no longer hide behind federal preemption to avoid state-court negligence claims when those claims involve motor vehicle safety.

For an industry that has relied on the argument that safety screening is the government's job, while the government's own workforce shrinks and its databases fill with phantom carriers, that shield is gone.

The decision could also reshape how brokers do business. If they face real legal exposure for hiring carriers with documented safety problems, the financial incentive to screen more carefully becomes immediate and personal. That is how accountability is supposed to work.

The broader question is whether Congress and federal regulators will catch up. The numbers are stark: 10,000 reconstituted carriers approved since 2021, 141 dead, 1,800 injured, and a regulatory workforce that has only gotten smaller. The Court's docket continues to fill with cases that test the boundaries between federal authority and individual rights, and this one may prove among the most consequential for public safety.

The Trump administration's decision to side with the industry on preemption reflects a legitimate concern about regulatory uniformity. No one wants 50 different state standards governing freight brokerage. But uniformity means nothing if the uniform standard is no accountability at all.

The nine justices saw that clearly enough to rule without a single dissent. When the federal system meant to keep dangerous trucks off the road is shrinking while the trucks multiply, someone has to answer for the wreckage. Now, at least, a jury will get the chance to decide whether that someone includes the broker who arranged the load.

Accountability doesn't arrive by press release. It arrives in a courtroom. And for Shawn Montgomery and families like the one lost on I-75, Thursday's ruling means the courtroom door is finally open.