Brokers Push a Federal Carrier-Vetting Standard After Montgomery Ruling

C.H. Robinson spent this week lobbying lawmakers from both parties for a national standard on how brokers pick trucking companies. CEO Dave Bozeman framed it plainly to Transport Topics on September 21: "We have to have a standard. That is not us saying we want immunity from liability. No, we want accountability."

The push follows the Supreme Court's unanimous May 14 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II. The Court held that federal law does not preempt state negligent-hiring claims against a broker, because states keep their safety authority "with respect to motor vehicles." The case began with a highway crash in Illinois: a truck operated by Caribe Transport struck Shawn Montgomery, who lost a leg, and he sued C.H. Robinson for hiring a carrier with a poor federal safety rating.

The practical result is that a broker can now be sued under each state's own negligence law for choosing the wrong carrier, with no single federal yardstick for what careful selection looks like. C.H. Robinson says small and mid-sized brokers have already declined about 20% over two years, and estimates another 20% could be affected without legal clarity.

The transport angle

The fix the industry is backing is the Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act, H.R. 5337, introduced in September 2025 and still pending. It would give a broker a defined duty: within 45 days before a shipment, confirm the carrier is registered with FMCSA, carries "at least the minimum insurance coverage required by Federal and State law," and has been confirmed by FMCSA to meet its safety standards.

That is a reasonable floor for keeping unsafe trucks off the road. It is not a standard for protecting a $300,000 car, and owners should not read it as one.

Look at what "minimum insurance" means for a car hauler. FMCSA requires a for-hire, non-hazmat property carrier running equipment over 10,001 pounds to file $750,000 in bodily injury and property damage liability. That coverage pays for the other people and property a truck hits. The federal cargo insurance requirement for the same carrier is $0. Cargo coverage is only federally mandated for household goods movers. A carrier can pass every check in H.R. 5337 and still have no cargo policy at all, or one far smaller than the value of what is on the trailer.

The Montgomery ruling itself does not change this. It concerned a crash victim, not damaged freight. What it changes is behavior. Brokers facing open-ended exposure have a strong reason to tighten carrier vetting, drop marginal carriers, and document every selection. For an owner, that is mostly good news, with one caveat: vetting built to satisfy a liability standard checks the boxes the standard names, and cargo limits are not one of them.

Consolidation matters too. If the smaller-broker count keeps shrinking, the enclosed segment, which is already thin, loses some of the specialist desks that know which carriers run liftgates, soft ties, and single-car loads. That tends to show up first on less-traveled lanes and in peak weeks.

What to ask before you book

Ask for the carrier's cargo certificate, not just its authority. Registration and a clean safety record are table stakes. The number that protects your car is the cargo limit per vehicle and per load. On a multi-car enclosed trailer, a per-load limit is shared across everything on the deck. Our enclosed shipping insurance guide covers how to read the certificate and what exclusions to look for.

Check the carrier yourself. FMCSA's public company snapshot shows authority status, insurance on file, and inspection history. It takes two minutes and does not depend on anyone's standard of care.

Confirm your own policy. Many collector and agreed-value policies cover a car in transit; some exclude it. Call before pickup, not after.

Document condition at pickup. If something does go wrong, the claim runs on the bill of lading and your photos. The claims process guide walks through what carriers and insurers ask for, and the prep guide for exotics covers the photo set worth taking.

If this is your first enclosed move, the first-time buyer guide lays out the rest of the questions worth asking. Citadel connects owners with licensed brokers and does not itself select carriers or insure cargo, which is exactly why the cargo question belongs on your list regardless of who you book through.

Whether or not H.R. 5337 moves this session, whatever standard eventually passes will define how a broker avoids liability for a crash. Protecting the car on the trailer will still come down to the cargo policy and the questions you ask.