William Wood
Founder, TruckTalk
The Supreme Court just ruled unanimously that freight brokers can be sued for hiring carriers with safety gaps. Here’s why English proficiency training is now part of the liability chain — and what carriers should do about it.
On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous 9-0 ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC that is already reshaping how freight moves in America. The decision is straightforward: federal law does not shield freight brokers from state lawsuits when they negligently hire carriers with documented safety problems. For carriers, the implications go far beyond the courtroom.
What Happened
On December 7, 2017, Shawn Montgomery pulled his tractor-trailer over on Interstate 70 in Illinois due to a mechanical issue. A truck driven by Yosniel Varela-Mojena, operating for motor carrier Caribe Transport II, veered off the road and rear-ended Montgomery’s stopped vehicle. Montgomery’s injuries were catastrophic, including the amputation of his leg.
The load had been coordinated by C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the nation’s largest freight broker. Montgomery sued C.H. Robinson, arguing the broker was negligent for hiring Caribe Transport despite the carrier’s “Conditional” federal safety rating — a rating that signals documented compliance failures.
C.H. Robinson argued it was shielded from state-law negligence claims by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which preempts state laws “related to a price, route, or service of any” broker. The Seventh Circuit agreed. The Supreme Court reversed.
The Ruling
Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Barrett held that the FAAAA’s safety exception — which preserves “the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles” — covers negligent-hiring claims against brokers. Requiring a broker to exercise ordinary care in selecting a carrier “concerns motor vehicles,” Barrett wrote, most obviously the trucks that will move the goods.
Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Alito, concurred but added an important note: the ruling “should not be read to mean that brokers will routinely be subject to state tort liability in the wake of truck accidents.” Brokers that act reasonably and select reputable carriers “should be able to successfully defend against state tort suits.”
The key word is reasonably. And that’s where this gets relevant for carriers.
What Changed Immediately
C.H. Robinson’s response was swift. Within two weeks of the ruling, the nation’s largest freight broker announced it was raising its insurance minimums from the federal floor of $750,000 to $1 million, dropping carriers with “Conditional” safety ratings, implementing a seven-day wait period for carriers with new operating authority, and flagging carriers identified as “high-risk” using internal safety metrics.
Other major brokers are expected to follow. The economics are simple: if a broker can be sued for negligently selecting a carrier, every broker’s legal team is now reviewing their carrier vetting criteria.
Where English Proficiency Fits In
This is the part most industry coverage has missed.
Under 49 CFR §391.11(b)(2), every CMV driver must be able to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.” This is not optional. It is a driver qualification requirement — the same category of regulation that covers medical certificates, CDL class, and driving record.
A carrier whose drivers cannot demonstrate English proficiency has a documented driver-qualification gap. Post-Montgomery, a broker who books that carrier — and a crash occurs — now faces the question: did you know, or should you have known, that this carrier had unqualified drivers?
The liability chain is now: broker → carrier → unqualified driver → liability all the way up.
What This Means for Carriers
If you’re a carrier, the calculus has changed. Your safety record — including driver qualification compliance — is no longer just an FMCSA audit concern. It’s now a factor in whether brokers will work with you at all. Carriers with documented compliance gaps, including English proficiency violations, are going to find themselves at the back of the line for loads.
The carriers that will thrive in the post-Montgomery landscape are the ones that can demonstrate their drivers are qualified, trained, and certified — with documentation to prove it.
What Carriers Should Do Now
First, audit your driver qualification files. Every driver in your fleet should have documented evidence of English proficiency. An out-of-service violation for ELP failure (49 CFR §391.11(b)(2)) is exactly the kind of “known safety gap” that plaintiff’s attorneys will point to in a post-Montgomery lawsuit.
Second, implement a training program with verifiable outcomes. Generic ESL courses don’t produce the documentation you need. You want a program that is specifically designed for DOT inspection scenarios, produces completion certificates with verifiable IDs, tracks individual driver progress with exportable records, and meets a defined passing standard.
Third, make the records accessible. When a broker asks about your safety posture — and after Montgomery, they will ask — you should be able to show them exactly how your drivers are trained and what their certification status is.
The Bigger Picture
Montgomery v. Caribe Transport is part of a broader shift in trucking safety accountability. CDL testing went English-only in February 2026. Over 7,000 training schools have been removed from the FMCSA registry. CVSA added English proficiency to its out-of-service criteria. And now, the Supreme Court has ensured that the financial consequences of hiring unsafe carriers flow to everyone in the chain who could have prevented the harm.
For carriers that take compliance seriously, this is actually good news. It means the carriers cutting corners on driver qualifications will face real consequences — not just from FMCSA, but from the market itself. Brokers are now incentivized to choose the safest carriers, and carriers are incentivized to prove they are safe.
The question is whether your fleet is ready to prove it.
How TruckTalk Helps
TruckTalk provides DOT-specific English proficiency training in six languages: Spanish, Punjabi, Hindi, Russian, Polish, and Vietnamese. Every driver who completes the program passes a 108-question certification exam at a 90% threshold, receives a verifiable completion certificate, and has their progress tracked in a fleet dashboard with FMCSA audit-ready export reports.
It’s the kind of documented, defensible training program that demonstrates your fleet takes driver qualification seriously — to FMCSA, to your broker partners, and if it ever comes to it, to a jury.
Keep Your Fleet Compliant
TruckTalk provides English proficiency training built specifically for truck drivers and roadside inspections.
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