On October 3, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted plaintiff's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, 124 F.4th 1053 (7th Cir. 2025). The Court will address the question, stated simply: "Does § 14501(c) preempt a state common-law claim against a broker for negligently selecting a motor carrier or driver?"

The answer to this question is of keen interest to transportation brokers because the federal courts of appeals have lined up on each side of this all-or-nothing proposition, with the distinction being whether negligent selection claims against brokers fall within the "safety exception" to the FAAAA and, therefore, are not preempted.¹ The Eleventh Circuit has lined up with the Seventh Circuit, both of which concluded that negligence claims against brokers are preempted and not within the safety exception.² The Sixth and Ninth Circuits determined that these claims are within the safety exception and, thus, not preempted (Cox and Miller, respectively).³

Montgomery was presented to the Court for conference on September 29, 2025. On the same day, a cert petition was presented in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics, Inc., where TQL framed the question this way: "Whether a common-law negligence claim alleged against a freight broker, based on the broker’s selection of a motor carrier to provide transportation of cargo, is preempted because it does not fall within the safety exception in Section 14501(c)(2)(A)."

The question as presented by TQL put a finer point on the issue than the question as framed in Montgomery. The split among the courts of appeals turns on scope of the safety exception. TQL's question folded in the core issue although, presumably, Montgomery's question requires an analysis of the scope of the safety exception.

As of the writing of this legal alert, the Court's decision on the Cox petition has not been announced. The arguments in the two cases are nuanced. Perhaps the Court will accept both cases, using one to augment the analysis in the other. Whatever the Court's approach, transportation brokers and their attorneys look forward to the Court's guidance.

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¹ Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Act, 49 USC § 14501

² Aspen American Insurance v. Landstar. Ranger, Inc., 65 F.4th 1261 (11th Cir. 2023)(claims for negligent selection of motor carrier are preempted and not within the safety exception).

³ Miller v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., 976 F.3d 1016 (9th Cir. 2020); Cox v. Total Quality Logistics, Inc., 2025 WL 1878770 (6th Cir. July 8, 2025).