Safety Should Be Provable, Not Just Compliant

Register for Lytx’s Oct. 27 webinar on building a defensible safety record.

Since 1994, many courts interpreted the Federal Aviation Administration Act (FAAAA) to shield brokers from state-law negligent hiring lawsuits, finding that such claims were preempted since they related to a broker’s services in arranging transportation. In May, the Supreme Court closed that door. In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, the justices ruled unanimously that freight brokers can face negligent hiring and carrier-selection claims under state law, meaning a broker who knew, or reasonably should have known, that a carrier had safety problems can no longer treat the matter as someone else’s responsibility. A unanimous decision that sent a clear signal to the industry that safety is everyone’s job, not just the motor carrier’s.

The ruling does not create strict liability for brokers, and it does not change the underlying safety requirements carriers must meet. What it changes is the burden of proof. A broker’s carrier-selection process (which would include what it knew, when it knew it, and what it did in response) is now far more likely to be scrutinized after an accident. That makes the broker’s documentation of due diligence part of their legal exposure.

The scrutiny cuts both ways for carriers. A clean public record of things like current authority, active insurance, or an acceptable FMCSA safety rating may no longer be evidence that a broker did enough. Brokers now have reason to look past those baseline checks toward carriers who can demonstrate an active, ongoing safety management program such as a video telematics program that identifies and addresses risks and documents the results of changes. Two carriers can look identical on paper and still represent very different levels of risk. A documented safety program makes a carrier choice more defensible for the broker later.

That is a notable shift in emphasis. For years, a safety record was treated as a compliance checkbox. Carriers would maintain the broad strokes of compliance to stay on the road, but would rarely use safety records to actively market or to win freight. Under the standard taking shape now, a documented safety record is a necessary credential. It’s proof that a carrier can offer a broker, an insurer, or a court that it took safety seriously prior to an incident. It is a competitive advantage in broker selection of a carrier.

A few practices separate a proactive safety management program from a reactive one. Fleets that have gone through this transition tend to build in an adjustment period before formal coaching begins, so early reviews reflect real driving patterns rather than first-week unfamiliarity with a new system. They pair event review with consistent, documented coaching conversations, rather than letting footage accumulate without follow-up. They unify compliance data and safety performance data rather than managing elements such as hours-of-service records and driving-behavior data as unrelated metrics.

The ruling also lands in the context of other changes in freight risk. Insurance underwriters have been reassessing carrier risk profiles for several underwriting cycles now, and nuclear verdicts in trucking litigation have already pushed premiums higher industry-wide. Montgomery adds another layer of exposure on top of that trend, and carriers able to point to an active, documented safety program are better positioned heading into renewal conversations, not just broker conversations.

None of this requires predicting exactly how state courts will apply Montgomery over the next few years. It requires recognizing that the standard of proof has changed, and that “documented safety performance” is a higher bar than bare-minimum compliance.

Lytx® has spent 15 years in the DOT compliance space, helping fleets manage ELD compliance, improve safety scores, and build the kind of documented safety programs that brokers, insurers, and shippers are increasingly expecting to see. The company is hosting a webinar on Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. PST aimed at carrier safety, risk, compliance, and legal leaders, focused on how to make an existing safety program demonstrable. You’ll hear what brokers are looking for, what a defensible safety record looks like in practice, and what the fleets staying ahead of this are doing differently. Registration is available here.

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or a legal opinion.