C.H. Robinson and its Customer Unilever Sued Over Catastrophic Crash

This article is contributed content from an independent writer. It does not represent the views or opinions of FreightWaves or any of its subsidiaries.

Dalilah Coleman was riding with her stepfather, Michael Krause, when their car stopped for road
construction on a California highway. A tractor trailer struck them from behind, leaving the child
and her stepfather with what a lawsuit describes as catastrophic and permanent injuries. (Second
Amended Complaint, paragraphs 15 through 21 and 96 through 99.)
The lawsuit reaches beyond the driver and trucking companies. It also targets the shipper, C.H.
Robinson and the warehouse where the freight originated, alleging they failed to verify that the
carrier arriving to collect the shipment was authorized to take it.
The shipper is Conopco, d.b.a. Unilever. The plaintiffs allege that Conopco, C.H. Robinson and
United States Cold Storage lacked safeguards that should have detected an unauthorized carrier
substitution before the freight left the warehouse. (Complaint, paragraphs 39, 95 and 111.)

A family’s fight reaches Washington
Dalilah’s injuries have drawn attention far beyond the California courtroom. Her family has
advocated for legislation known as Dalilah’s Law, seeking changes intended to prevent other
families from experiencing similar crashes. “I’m fighting for the future Dalilahs out there,” her
father, Marcus Coleman, told KERO.
President Donald Trump highlighted Dalilah’s story during his February 24, 2026, State of the
Union address. With Dalilah and her father in attendance, Trump described her recovery and
called on Congress to pass legislation bearing her name that would prohibit states from issuing
commercial driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. State of the Union transcript. On
March 18, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a version of
Dalilah’s Law addressing commercial driver licensing, English proficiency and driver training
requirements. Committee announcement.
For Dalilah’s family, the consequences remain immediate. In written congressional testimony
dated September 1, Marcus Coleman said his daughter suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain
injury and underwent another skull surgery on August 3, more than two years after the crash.
Coleman’s congressional testimony.
While the legislative debate has focused on driver qualifications and licensing, the civil lawsuit
examines another part of the transportation process: how the truck and driver obtained the freight
in the first place.
One carrier assigned, another name on the truck

According to the complaint, Conopco contracted with C.H. Robinson to carry or arrange
transportation of refrigerated products. The shipment originated at a United States Cold Storage
warehouse in Bakersfield and was headed to a Target distribution center in Rialto. The bill of
lading allegedly identified C.H. Robinson as the motor carrier. C.H. Robinson then brokered the
load to VVS Trans. (Complaint, paragraphs 24 through 29.)
But the truck that arrived to collect the freight allegedly displayed US Jet Trans’s placards and
DOT number. The complaint alleges that US Jet’s motor carrier authority had been inactive for
nearly a year at the time of the crash. (Complaint, paragraphs 36 and 37.) The plaintiffs accuse
VVS of reassigning or double brokering the shipment to related companies and individuals.
(Complaint, paragraphs 30, 31 and 38.) The truck, driven by Partap Singh, later struck Krause’s
Toyota Corolla according to the complaint. Traffic had stopped for a construction zone.
(Complaint, paragraphs 15 through 19.)
What allegedly failed at pickup
The plaintiffs’ allegations against the shipper and warehouse focus on the moment the freight
changed hands. The complaint accuses C.H. Robinson, Conopco and United States Cold Storage
of failing to maintain “reasonable gatekeeping or safety procedures” to ensure that the arriving
carrier and driver were the ones authorized to collect the shipment. (Complaint, paragraph 39.)
The plaintiffs allege there were no adequate procedures to confirm that the person arriving was
the “properly authorized driver of the properly authorized and assigned motor carrier.” Without
that check, the plaintiffs contend, the load could be released to an unauthorized party without the
substitution being detected.
The complaint also alleges that C.H. Robinson and Conopco had contractual obligations to
confirm that the assigned carrier and driver performed the transportation and to prohibit
unauthorized reassignment. The plaintiffs claim breaches of those obligations contributed to the
substitution and the collision. (Complaint, paragraph 110.)
The claim reaches the shipper
The plaintiffs bring a claim for negligent carrier selection and negligent brokerage system
management against C.H. Robinson, Conopco and United States Cold Storage. They allege
failures both in selecting transportation providers and in preventing unauthorized load
reassignment. (Complaint, paragraphs 103 through 112.)
The allegation against the shipper is therefore not simply that its products were on the truck. The
plaintiffs contend that Conopco shared responsibility for ensuring the freight was released to the
authorized carrier and driver. That theory places warehouse procedures alongside brokerage
decisions in the lawsuit. The complaint alleges that an opportunity to detect an unauthorized