Background

On May 14, the Supreme Court of the United States resolved a long-standing circuit split in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238, 608 U.S. ___ (2026), a consequential ruling for every company that arranges truck transportation in the United States.

The case arose from a serious accident in Illinois: a truck driver working for Caribe Transport (a motor carrier selected by broker C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.) struck petitioner Shawn Montgomery’s tractor-trailer, which was stopped on the shoulder of the road. Montgomery suffered severe, permanent injuries. When C.H. Robinson engaged Caribe Transport, the carrier held a “conditional” FMCSA safety rating, with regulatory findings of deficiencies in driver qualification, hours-of-service compliance, vehicle maintenance, and crash rate.

Continue reading to learn what transportation brokers, freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and drayage arrangers need to know after Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC