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ARTICLE · 24 AUGUST 2026

Montgomery v. Caribe Transport

Butler Snow LLP
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The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC has fundamentally altered the landscape for freight brokers facing negligent hiring claims. After years of conflicting court decisions on whether federal law shields brokers from state tort liability, the nation's highest court has definitively ruled that such claims fall within the FAAAA's safety exception and are not preempted.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

For years now, state and federal courts have been split over a simple, yet complex question: Does federal law preempt state law claims against brokers for their negligent selection (negligent hiring) of motor carriers and/or their drivers? For a minute, things were looking up for the trucking industry with the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Ye v. GlobalTranz Enterprises, Inc., which held that (1) the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) preempted state-law negligence claims, and (2) the FAAAA’s safety exception did not save the claim from preemption. See Ye v. Global Tranz Enters., Inc., 74 F.4th 453 (7th Cir. 2023). This victory was short-lived.

On May 14, 2026, the United States Supreme Court issued its 9–0 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, 146 S. Ct. 1199 (2026) and resolved the issue once and for all: a “negligent-hiring claim falls within the FAAAA’s safety exception, which saves it from preemption.” Montgomery, 146 S. Ct. at 1205.

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