What changed in 2026
- Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II — on May 14, 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9–0 that negligent-selection claims against brokers fall within federal (FAAAA) preemption but are saved by its motor-vehicle safety exception. Injury victims can sue the broker that picked the carrier. U.S. Supreme Court No. 24-1238
- Brokers raised the bar. C.H. Robinson moved its minimum liability insurance from $750,000 to $1 million, stopped using carriers with a Conditional safety rating, added a 7-day wait for newly authorized carriers and suspends carriers above BASIC intervention thresholds. Land Line, Jun 3, 2026
- Juries assign fault to brokers. In July 2026 a Dallas County jury returned a $604 million advisory verdict over a 2021 crash and put 23% of the fault on the broker for negligent selection. It is not a final judgment and the broker says it will appeal. C.H. Robinson 10-Q; Land Line, Jul 24, 2026
The lower courts were already moving this way: the 9th Circuit in Miller v. C.H. Robinson (2020) and the 6th Circuit in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics (2025) let similar claims go forward. Montgomery settled the question nationally.
What brokers check
| Check | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Operating authority Active MC authority, a BOC-3 process agent on file, and the authority's age. New authorities get extra scrutiny or a waiting period. | FMCSA registration (Motus) |
| Insurance Liability on file with FMCSA and a certificate naming the broker. The federal minimum for general freight is $750,000; large brokers increasingly ask for $1M. | §387.9 |
| Safety rating Satisfactory, unrated, Conditional or Unsatisfactory. Unrated is normal for new carriers; Conditional now gets many carriers turned away. | §385.3 |
| SMS / BASIC scores A property carrier's BASIC percentiles have not been public since the 2015 FAST Act — only the carrier sees them, logged in. Brokers work from the public inspection and crash records or ask the carrier; some cut off anyone above FMCSA's intervention thresholds (65% for Unsafe Driving, HOS and Crash; 80% for the others). | FMCSA SMS methodology v3.21 |
| Inspection and crash history Out-of-service rates, recent crashes and how the carrier's numbers have moved over the last 24 months. | FMCSA SMS |
| Identity That the people, phone, email and address match the authority — brokers now screen hard for double-brokering and identity theft. | Broker onboarding |
Each broker sets its own cut-offs; the list above is what most onboarding systems look at. After a crash, the question in court is whether the broker checked — and what the carrier's records showed.
How a small carrier stays on the approved list
- Keep the registration clean. Authority active, BOC-3 on file, MCS-150 updated, insurance filings current. A lapse shows up in onboarding systems within days.
- Price $1M of liability before you need it. At the $750,000 minimum, some large-broker freight is off the table.
- Watch your BASICs monthly — log in to the SMS website to see your own percentiles; contest wrong inspections through DataQs. How CSA scores work.
- Avoid a Conditional rating. It usually comes from a compliance review — and most findings are paperwork: driver files, drug and alcohol testing, logs, maintenance records.
- Answer onboarding fast and consistently. Same legal name, phone and email everywhere; certificate of insurance and W-9 ready to send.
Records that pass a broker's check
We keep driver files, logs, testing and filings audit-ready, so your safety record holds up when a broker — or a court — looks at it.
Sources: Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, U.S. Supreme Court No. 24-1238 (May 14, 2026); Land Line (Jun 3 and Jul 24, 2026); C.H. Robinson Form 10-Q; Miller v. C.H. Robinson (9th Cir. 2020); Cox v. Total Quality Logistics (6th Cir. 2025); 49 CFR 385.3, 387.9; FMCSA SMS methodology (v3.21, June 2026). Verdicts that are not final may change on appeal. General information, not legal advice. IFTAX is not affiliated with FMCSA, any broker or any government agency.