U.S. Supreme Court rules against trucking industry

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision Thursday, agreed that states can protect individuals injured in trucking accidents.

The case, Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, focused on Shawn Montgomery, who sustained severe and permanent injuries after his tractor trailer was struck by a truck driven under Caribe Transport’s authority in Illinois.

Montgomery said C.H. Robinson, the company who hired Caribe Transport, was responsible for negligent hiring. C.H. Robinson said Montogomery’s claim was preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.

The Federal Aviation Adminsitration Authorization Act allows transportation agencies to preempt state laws in relation to the pricing, routes and services of the trucking industry. Justices on the high court said the act does not preempt negligent hiring claims.

“States retain authority to regulate safety ‘with respect to motor vehicles’ under the Act,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote.

Barrett said the FAAAA has an important exception aimed at protecting individuals from safety risks that allows it to be prosecuted in the injury case.

“C.H. Robinson knew (or should have known) that choosing Caribe Transport to move goods was reasonably likely to cause an accident,” Barrett wrote. “Montgomery’s negligent-hiring claim falls within the FAAAA’s safety exception, which saves it from preemption.”

Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito wrote concurring opinions with Barrett. Kavanaugh said C.H. Robinson is as equally liable for a lawsuit as Caribe Transport, the broker agency, due to safety concerns in hiring.

“It is hard to read the statute as written and conclude that Congress subtly sliced and diced state tort law so that trucking companies would be subject to state tort suits for accidents, but brokers would operate free of any such tort liability,” Kavanaugh wrote.

With the justices settling a question over preemption, the case will move forward in the lower courts for further consideration and damages.