Today marks a significant development for highway safety and accountability in the logistics industry. In a much-anticipated decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a negligent hiring claim against a freight broker, holding that such claims are not preempted by federal law. This ruling, in the case of Robert Cox v. Total Quality Logistics, Inc., et al., means that victims of accidents caused by unsafe motor carriers may now have a crucial avenue for seeking justice against the brokers who hired them.
What does this mean for you?
For too long, freight brokers have attempted to shield themselves from liability by arguing that federal law (the FAAAA) preempts state-law negligent hiring claims. The argument was that holding brokers accountable for their hiring choices would unduly interfere with the “price, route, or service” of transportation, which the FAAAA broadly preempts. However, the Sixth Circuit, in a powerful and detailed opinion, has definitively stated that the safety exception to the FAAAA’s preemption provision applies to these critical claims.
The Heart of the Ruling: Safety Over Deregulation
The Court meticulously examined the FAAAA’s “safety exception,” which preserves “the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles”. Negligent hiring claims, which seek to enforce a standard of care requiring brokers to perform due diligence in selecting safe motor carriers, are fundamentally about motor vehicle safety. The Sixth Circuit agreed, finding that these claims are “genuinely responsive to safety concerns”. Crucially, the Court rejected the narrow interpretations put forth by other circuits, which had suggested that for the safety exception to apply, the regulated entity (the broker) must directly own or operate motor vehicles. Instead, the Sixth Circuit emphasized that the focus is on whether the state law at issue substantively concerns motor vehicles and motor vehicle safety. As the Court explained, the alleged negligent conduct in Cox — TQL’s failure to consider Golden Transit’s history of “on-road safety violations and deficiencies” when hiring them to transport goods via “semi-truck” — plainly “involve[s]” motor vehicles and motor vehicle safety.
Why This Matters for Highway Safety
This decision is a game-changer. It means that freight brokers can no longer simply wash their hands of responsibility once they connect a shipper with a motor carrier, especially if they ignore glaring safety red flags. As the Court pointed out, TQL allegedly disregarded public information from the FMCSA indicating that Golden Transit was an unsafe motor carrier, with an “overwhelming number of its drivers deemed illegal to be on the road” and “more than 7 out of every 10 of its trucks were not allowed to legally be on the roadway”. This kind of alleged negligence can have devastating consequences, as it did in the Cox case, where Greta Cox tragically lost her life in a collision with the unsafe motor carrier’s vehicle.
Seeking Justice After a Trucking Accident?
If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious accident with a commercial truck, and you suspect that an unsafe motor carrier or negligent freight broker may be to blame, this ruling opens new doors. Our firm is dedicated to holding all responsible parties accountable, and we are prepared to leverage this significant legal precedent to fight for the justice you deserve.
Contact Marc Sedwick, Serious Injury & Trial Lawyer, for a free consultation to discuss your case. We are here to help navigate the complexities of trucking litigation and ensure that negligent parties are held responsible for their actions.