All three branches of the federal government have been cracking down on sketchy trucking practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that trucking brokers — or matchmakers between product sellers and trucking companies — can be held liable for negligent hires.
A Wyoming-based attorney who works for the winning firm called it a welcome ruling that could impact numerous cases in Wyoming’s federal court, and the overall safety of Interstate 80.
“It’s a monumental victory for justice for everyone in America,” Grant Lawson, of The Law Firm For Truck Safety, told Cowboy State Daily. “Very rarely do you see a unanimous decision come out of this U.S. Supreme Court. It’s very telling.”
Roughly 28,000 brokers arrange transportation for about a third of all freight shipped in the United States, by more than 780,000 carriers, says the high court’s opinion in the case of Montgomery v Caribe Transport.
The federal government started regulating the trucking industry in 1935.
But when states began regulating the industry, they would inhibit competition, block trade, traffic and interstate commerce. Congress passed the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act in 1994 to preempt states from regulating brokers’ prices, routes, or services.
The law contains an exemption for safety regulation, however.
‘Unqualified, Ill-Equipped'
That means the law doesn’t bar states from providing people with mechanisms to sue brokers for negligent hiring, the ruling says.
Lawson noted that his firm “partners in Ohio,” Michael Leizerman and Rena Leizerman, litigated the case.
As for Lawson, most of his litigation work stems from incidents on Interstate 80, he said. That interstate crosses Cheyenne and Laramie in southeast Wyoming, takes a northward arc across Rawlins then southwest through Evanston and out of the state.
Lawson called it “one of the most unsafe stretches of highway in the entire United States” with a lot of “unqualified, ill-equipped drivers out there who should never be allowed behind the wheel of a 15,000 pound truck.”
Some broker companies looking to cut costs don’t research the companies they’re hiring or heed those companies’ dismal safety ratings, he said.
“The system has become so gamed,” Lawson added.
He said the past few years have seen an explosion in the number of trucking companies, which pairs dangerously with “an ungodly dearth of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration employees and inspection employees.”
The Wyoming Legislature responded to that concern in a limited way in its recent winter session by authorizing all state peace officers to pull commercial drivers from the roads for failing to demonstrate English language proficiency.
That standard aligns with a federal rule requiring commercial truck drivers show enough English proficiency to converse with the general public, answer officials’ inquiries, read road signs and keep logs.
Meanwhile, Chameleon Carriers
One day before the high court issued its Caribe Transport decision last week, eight trucking groups representing vast swaths of the industry wrote a letter to the chair and ranking member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, urging him to back a bill by U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman.
The bill, the Safety and Accountability in Freight Enforcement (SAFE) Act, seeks to combat “chameleon carriers.”
People also call those “reincarnated carriers,” the industry letter notes.
Those terms refer to companies that accumulate safety violations and bad ratings, but evade suspensions or other consequences by changing their company name or using a fresh U.S. Department of Transportation number.
This practice “cannot continue,” the letter says.
Hageman’s bill was introduced and referred to the committee in February.
Chameleon carriers and problem brokers are separate issues, Lawson told Cowboy State Daily.
But those problems feed each other, he added.
“Brokers … should know, like, ‘Hey, who is this company? They’re a brand new trucking company. They don’t have any safety history — any history at all,’” said Lawson. “The argument that was being made was, brokers have a duty to make sure they’re not just going out there to find the cheapest rate; put slave labor behind the wheel.”
And, Last Week
U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs visited Casper last week, just before the Caribe decision’s release.
He told Cowboy State Daily at the time that the Wyoming Trucking Association had invited him to visit with industry groups and companies.
Barrs did so gladly, he said, adding that the agency is working toward more safety improvements.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
