WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Supreme Court on Thursday after he lost part of his leg in a semi tractor-trailer crash, a decision that could have big ripple effects across the trucking industry.
The justices ruled unanimously in favor of Shawn Montgomery, whose parked vehicle was hit by a speeding truck driver on an Illinois highway in 2017. He wants to sue C.H. Robinson, the country鈥檚 largest freight broker by size, over its role in putting the driver on the road despite what he called 鈥渟erious red flags.鈥�
The decision does not mean Montgomery will necessarily win the lawsuit, which the company is contesting. But the ruling opens the door to increased liability for freight brokers, a key part of the industry.
The Trump administration and companies such as Amazon had argued that letting the suit go forward would expose logistics companies to liability under a 鈥減atchwork鈥� of state laws.
The Transportation Intermediaries Association, an industry group, said the decision was 鈥渄eeply disappointing.鈥�
鈥淭his is like asking travel agents to evaluate the safety of a given airline despite the fact that the airline has been licensed to fly by the federal government,鈥� said Chris Burroughs, the group’s president and CEO. 鈥淲e are working with our members to assess potential next steps to mitigate the consequences of the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision.”
Montgomery’s lawyers say the trucker had been cited for careless driving in another crash months earlier and that the carrier he worked for had been involved with at least three crashes in a span of about five months. Montgomery’s lawsuit said C.H. Robinson should share liability because it hired the carrier despite those problems.
Montgomery’s appeal was backed by more than two dozen states. They said a win for him would help bolster safety in an industry that moves billions of tons of goods across billions of miles every year.
The company argued the suit, filed under state law, must be tossed out because brokers rely on the federal government to regulate carriers and federal law trumps state law.
But in an opinion by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court disagreed. The justices found Montgomery’s claims can move forward because they fall under an exception for safety regulations. The high court overturned a lower-court ruling in the company’s favor.
The decision could increase insurance costs for freight brokers that eventually 鈥渃ascade through the economy” and result in higher prices for consumers, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence joined by Justice Samuel Alito.
Still, 鈥渢ruck safety is a matter of life and death,” Kavanaugh wrote.
C.H. Robinson, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, pointed to another part of his concurrence, where he said the decision does not mean brokers will be 鈥渞outinely subject鈥� to lawsuits.
鈥淲e will keep working with policymakers, advocates, carriers, our customers, and others across the industry to strengthen the national safety system and advance practices that reduce accidents on America鈥檚 roads,” said Dorothy Capers, the company’s chief legal officer.
The ruling could have far reaching effects if brokers can be held liable for the actions of the trucking companies they hire, said Brian Watt, who runs a freight logistics company in Florida.
Brokers will now have to focus more on the safety records of the truckers they contract with to haul all kinds of goods, including hazardous materials, instead of just looking for the cheapest and fastest option.
鈥淢ore than 28,000 federally licensed brokers currently operate in the United States with virtually no meaningful federal safety oversight regarding how they select carriers,鈥� Watt said in a post on LinkedIn. He said there are tougher standards for brokers that arrange shipments out of ports and on railroads, but that highway shipments face fewer restrictions.
The Transportation Department has been cracking down on the trucking industry over the past year by trying to force , and out of the industry.
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Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
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