Quick Hits
- The Supreme Court recently found that freight brokers can be sued for negligent hiring after accidents involving motor carriers selected for interstate transport of goods.
- The FAAAA does not override state laws concerning negligent hiring of unsafe motor carriers.
The FAAAA preempts state laws related to prices, routes, and services for commercial trucking companies and brokers. However, a safety exception allows states to maintain safety regulatory authority with regard to motor vehicles.
In this case, the plaintiff was severely injured when his tractor-trailer was hit by another tractor-trailer on an Illinois highway. He sued the driver, the trucking company, and the freight broker. He alleged that the freight broker negligently hired the trucking company and the driver.
The Supreme Court weighed whether the safety exception may apply when there is a common-law claim alleging a freight broker was negligent when it selected a motor carrier to transport cargo. If preempted, remedies are significantly limited. Freight brokers are logistics professionals that connect businesses with carriers to transport products.
The Court found that the plaintiff’s negligent-hiring claim fell within the FAAAA’s safety exception and therefore was not preempted. “A claim that one company negligently hired another to transport goods is not preempted by the FAAAA because states retain authority to regulate safety ‘with respect to motor vehicles’ under the Act,” the Court stated.
Ogletree Deakins’ Trucking and Logistics Industry Group and Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the Trucking and Logistics and Workplace Safety and Health blogs as additional information becomes available.
Kevin P. Hishta is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Atlanta office.
Robert P. Roginson is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Los Angeles office.
This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.
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