What changed in May 2026
Until May 2026, "the carrier had an active MC, and federal law preempts this claim" got many negligent-selection suits thrown out before trial. That defense is gone. Now a jury decides whether your check was reasonable.
The short answer.
- On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that federal law does not block negligent-selection claims against freight brokers.
- There is no federal carrier selection standard. TIA asked FMCSA for one on June 11, 2026. Nothing has been adopted.
- An active MC on SAFER means the carrier is registered and has a liability filing. It does not mean the carrier is safe, insured for your freight, or the one on the phone.
- What protects you is a written standard, followed on every load, with a record of each check.
Part 1. Don't wait for FMCSA
For years, brokers in injury cases argued that a carrier with an MC number could be assumed reasonably safe, and that federal law preempted negligent-selection claims anyway. Montgomery ended the preemption argument. The case was about C.H. Robinson and Caribe Transport, a carrier with a Conditional safety rating whose truck hit Shawn Montgomery in Illinois. The Court held the claim falls under the FAAAA's motor vehicle safety exception. Twelve days later it declined to hear TQL v. Cox, leaving in place a Sixth Circuit ruling that let a negligent-selection claim against TQL go forward.
FMCSA withdraws its last attempt at a new safety fitness rule. Most carriers stay unrated.
Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II. 9-0: negligent-selection claims against brokers can go forward under state law.
Supreme Court denies review in TQL v. Cox. Same result in the Sixth Circuit.
TIA petitions FMCSA for a federal Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard and a public high-risk carrier list.
No standard, no list. FMCSA's deputy administrator has said the agency is not a "ratings agency."
Even if FMCSA acts, a rule takes years. The standard TIA proposed is also thin: registered, insured at the federal minimum, not ordered off the road. That is roughly what an active SAFER record already tells you. The cases are being filed now, and the question in each one is the same.
What a court will ask about your load
Law firms that wrote up the ruling agree on where these cases go: discovery into your process, then a "battle of the experts" over whether you used reasonable care. Expect these questions:
Did you have a written carrier selection policy on the day of the load?
Did your rep follow it on this load, or was it skipped?
What was on the carrier's record that day: rating, out-of-service orders, crashes?
If something failed, who approved the exception, and why?
Can you show it? Dated records, not memory.
"The only practice worse than not having a policy in place is having a policy and routinely violating that policy." Benesch, May 2026
Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence cuts the other way too: brokers are not automatically liable, and often can't judge a carrier's safety objectively. But brokers sometimes do learn that a carrier runs unsafe trucks or hires unfit drivers, and that is where liability starts. Your standard decides what your reps look at, and so what you knew.
Part 2. "Checked in FMCSA" guarantees nothing
The SAFER company snapshot is where every check starts. It's free, it's official, and it's mostly self-reported. Since May 2026, FMCSA's new registration system, Motus, adds identity proofing for the person registering a company. That makes fake registrations harder. It doesn't tell you who is on the phone with you today.
Authority is active and a liability filing is on file today.
That the company calling you is this carrier. Call the phone number on the record, not the one that called you.
What the carrier, or whoever controls its FMCSA account, entered last.
Whether it was changed last week by a fraudster. Highway counted 149 unauthorized contact changes on FMCSA records in Q3 2025 alone. Treat a recent change as a reason to hold.
Self-reported on the MCS-150, updated at least every two years.
Today's fleet. Check the MCS-150 date, and whether a 2-truck fleet should be covering 5 of your loads.
Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory, from a past compliance review.
Anything, for most carriers. TIA says over 90% of authorized carriers have no rating. "None" is not "safe". Look at inspections, out-of-service rates and crashes.
Counts and out-of-service rates against the national average.
How the carrier ranks. BASIC percentiles for property carriers are off public view since the 2015 FAST Act. Read the raw numbers, and your own claims history with the carrier.
A liability filing exists, at the federal minimum ($750,000 for general freight).
Cargo coverage (filed only for household goods), your limits, exclusions, scheduled drivers. Call the insurance agent at a number you found yourself.
A real person with a real ID registered this company, or claimed it.
Who answers the phone, who shows up at pickup, or whether the load gets re-brokered. Confirm driver, tractor and trailer before pickup.
In short: SAFER answers "is this a registered carrier?" It doesn't answer "is this the right carrier for this load, and is it really them?" The second question is the one in the lawsuit.
Part 3. Your minimum standard: 5 points
This is a floor, not legal advice. Run it past your counsel and your liability insurer. Underwriters may ask for exactly this, and some price it in. Keep it to one page, so your reps actually use it.
Checklist
Carrier selection: minimum standard
By retexa.ai for brokers
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Hard stops, in writing
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It's really them
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Insured for this freight
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Safe enough for this load
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On the record, every load
Free tools for the rest: fraud drill for your reps · carrier safety sheet · 12 fraud prevention checklists
Points 1 to 4 are what most brokers already do on a good day. Point 5 is what turns it into a defense. A standard you can't prove you followed on the load in question counts for little, and a rep who books at 4:55 pm on a Friday skips the step that isn't built into the workflow.
How Retexa handles this
Before every tender, the agent checks the carrier's authority, insurance filing and safety record, compares the phone and email the quote came from with the FMCSA record, and runs your do-not-use list and your own hard stops. Anything that fails goes to your rep before a rate con goes out, and each check is saved on the load with the date. It doesn't make you compliant or protect you in court. It makes sure the standard you wrote runs on every load. See how the carrier check works.
Questions brokers ask
Can a freight broker be held liable for a carrier's accident?
Yes, under state negligence law, if the broker failed to use reasonable care when it selected the carrier. In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II (May 14, 2026), the Supreme Court held that the FAAAA does not preempt these negligent-selection claims. Brokers are not automatically liable: the injured party still has to prove the selection was negligent and that it caused the harm.
What did the Supreme Court decide in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport?
The Court ruled 9-0 that negligent-hiring claims against freight brokers fall within the FAAAA's safety exception for motor vehicles, so federal law does not block them. The case involved C.H. Robinson and Caribe Transport, a carrier with a Conditional safety rating. A concurrence by Justice Kavanaugh noted that brokers should not routinely face liability.
Is there a federal carrier selection standard for brokers?
No. On June 11, 2026, the Transportation Intermediaries Association petitioned FMCSA for a federal Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard and a public high-risk carrier list. As of October 2026, neither has been adopted. Each brokerage sets its own standard.
Does an active MC number mean a carrier is safe?
No. Active authority means the carrier is registered and has a liability filing at the federal minimum. According to TIA, over 90% of authorized carriers have no safety rating at all. It also doesn't confirm that the company contacting you is that carrier.
What does the FMCSA SAFER company snapshot show?
Operating status and authority, legal name and DBA, address and phone, USDOT and MC numbers, power units and drivers, the MCS-150 date, cargo types, inspections and out-of-service rates, crashes for the past 24 months, and the safety rating if there is one. Insurance filings are in the Licensing and Insurance section. Most of it is self-reported by the carrier.
What does a Conditional safety rating mean? Can I use the carrier?
A Conditional rating means FMCSA found the carrier's safety management controls were not adequate in a past compliance review, but did not order it off the road. It's legal to use. After Montgomery, which itself involved a Conditional carrier, many brokers require a manager's written approval or don't use these carriers at all.
Can brokers use unrated carriers?
Yes. Most carriers are unrated, so excluding them isn't practical. An unrated carrier needs a closer look at its inspections, out-of-service rates, crashes and authority history, not an automatic yes or no.
What does FMCSA Motus verify?
Motus, FMCSA's registration system since May 2026, verifies the identity of the person registering or claiming a company, with a government ID and a face scan, and validates the business. It does not approve a carrier for a load, and it doesn't verify who you are talking to on the phone.
What should a carrier vetting policy include?
At minimum: hard stops (no active authority, out-of-service order, Unsatisfactory rating, no liability filing, do-not-use match), an identity check against the FMCSA record, insurance confirmed with the agent, safety limits for the load, and a dated record of every check and exception. It only helps if reps follow it on every load.
This article explains public information. It is not legal advice. For your policy, talk to a transportation attorney and your insurer.
Sources
- SCOTUSblog, "Court rules freight brokers can face negligent hiring suits under state law" (May 2026)
- Benesch, "One Battle After Another: Freight Brokers in a Post-Montgomery World" (May 18, 2026)
- M3 Insurance, "Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II: Where Freight Broker Programs Are Exposed" (June 3, 2026)
- FreightWaves, "TIA asking FMCSA for guidance on approved carriers post-Montgomery" (June 11, 2026)
- Overdrive, "Brokers want FMCSA to publish list of 'high risk' motor carriers"
- Highway, Freight Fraud Index Q3 2025: unauthorized FMCSA contact changes (summarized in our fraud prevention checklists)
- FMCSA SAFER, Company Snapshot
- FMCSA, FAST Act and CSA: what is displayed publicly
- ArkTMS, "FMCSA Motus is live: what freight brokers should change in carrier vetting" (May 20, 2026)
- FreightWaves, "Motus steps up: what carriers need to know about new FMCSA system"
- 49 CFR 387.9, financial responsibility, minimum levels
- 49 CFR 390.19, motor carrier identification report (MCS-150) and biennial update