The US Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision Thursday that allows an Illinois man to pursue a lawsuit against CH Robinson, the nation's largest freight broker, over injuries sustained in a 2017 truck crash that cost him part of his leg.
Shawn Montgomery's parked vehicle was struck by a speeding semi tractor-trailer driven by a trucker employed through a carrier contracted by CH Robinson. His legal team argues the freight broker bears responsibility for putting a driver on the road with a problematic safety history.
The trucker in question had been cited for careless driving in a previous crash just months before the collision that injured Montgomery. The carrier he worked for had been involved in at least three separate accidents within roughly five months, according to Montgomery's complaint. Despite these warning signs, CH Robinson hired the carrier without addressing the safety concerns, his lawsuit contends.
CH Robinson, headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had successfully argued that federal regulation of freight carriers shields them from state law liability. The company maintained that the federal government alone handles carrier licensing and oversight, making state-level lawsuits inappropriate. Lower courts initially agreed, with both the trial judge and a Chicago appellate court dismissing Montgomery's case.
Montgomery appealed directly to the Supreme Court. His attorneys convinced the justices that federal transportation law, while generally preempting state regulations, contains an important exception for safety matters. The court's unanimous ruling recognized this distinction and cleared the way for his case to proceed.
The decision carries potential consequences throughout the logistics industry. More than two dozen states supported Montgomery's position, filing court documents arguing that allowing such lawsuits would strengthen safety standards in trucking, an industry that transports billions of tons of cargo across billions of miles annually. The Trump administration and major companies including Amazon opposed the ruling, warning that state-by-state liability exposure would create an unworkable patchwork of legal standards for freight brokers and carriers.
The case now returns to lower courts, where Montgomery can pursue his claim that CH Robinson should share liability for negligently selecting a carrier with a documented crash history.
Author James Rodriguez: "The Supreme Court just handed safety-conscious accident victims a real weapon against an industry that's been hiding behind federal preemption for years."
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