Most people assume that when a truck crash happens, the driver or the trucking company is the only one who answers for it.
That’s rarely the whole story.
Somewhere behind that truck is often a freight broker, the company that matched a shipper’s cargo with the carrier that hauled it. Brokers don’t own trucks. They don’t hire drivers. But they do pick which carrier gets the job, and that choice matters.
If the broker in your case picked a carrier it knew, or should have known, was unsafe, we may have a claim against that broker too, separate from any claim against the truck driver or trucking company.
This article provides general legal information about Illinois and federal law; consult a licensed Illinois attorney for advice specific to your situation.
What Is a Freight Broker and How Are They Involved in Truck Accidents?
A freight broker is a licensed middleman. Federal rules under 49 CFR Part 371 govern how brokers operate. Their job is to connect a shipper who needs cargo moved with a carrier willing to move it, then take a fee for making the match.
The broker doesn’t own the truck. In most cases, the broker doesn’t employ the driver either. What the broker does own is the decision: which carrier gets the load.
That decision carries weight. A broker who hires a carrier with a bad safety record, suspended operating authority, or no real insurance is putting a dangerous truck on the highway, and everyone driving near it is exposed to that risk.
Federal rules require brokers to check a carrier’s safety history before dispatching a load. In our experience handling these cases, that check doesn’t always happen the way it should.
The Legal Barrier That Protected Brokers, Until 2026
For years, brokers had a reliable way to get these lawsuits thrown out before trial: a federal law called the FAAAA, the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)). It blocks states from enforcing laws “related to a price, route, or service” of a broker, and brokers argued that covered negligence claims too.
Federal courts split on the question. Some said a negligence claim against a broker was preempted and had to be dismissed before the victim ever got a hearing on the merits. Others let the claim go forward. Illinois sits in the Seventh Circuit, and our federal courts here had been siding with the brokers.
Sit with that for a second. Whether a victim could even get in front of a jury depended less on what the broker actually did and more on which courthouse the case happened to land in.
The 2026 Supreme Court Ruling: Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II LLC
The Supreme Court settled the question this year, unanimously, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II LLC. The Court held that a state-law negligent selection or negligent entrustment claim against a freight broker is not preempted by the FAAAA.
Here’s what that means in plain terms: if a broker carelessly picked an unsafe carrier and that carrier caused your crash, you can sue the broker in state court. The broker no longer gets to short-circuit the case with a preemption motion before you’ve had a chance to make your argument.
A 9-0 vote is worth pausing on. It tells you the Court didn’t see this as a close call, even though brokers had been winning this argument in courts like ours for years.
The reasoning matters too. The Court treated a broker’s duty to pick a safe carrier as an ordinary safety rule, the same kind of rule that applies to anyone whose decisions put trucks on the road, not some special regulation aimed at how brokers run their business. That’s why it survives the FAAAA.
And because this is a Supreme Court ruling, it applies everywhere. Illinois plaintiffs now stand on the same ground as plaintiffs in the circuits that had already rejected the broker’s preemption argument.
What Brokers Are Required to Do and What They Often Skip
Federal rules under 49 CFR Part 371 require brokers to keep records on the carriers they use, including operating authority and proof of insurance. None of this information is hidden. The FMCSA runs a public database called SAFER (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov), and anyone, broker or otherwise, can look up a carrier’s safety rating, inspection history, crash record, and whether its operating authority is even active.
So when a broker sends a load to a carrier with a conditional or unsatisfactory safety rating, a stack of hours-of-service violations, or insurance that lapsed months ago, the warning signs were sitting right there in a public database. That’s the gap negligent entrustment law is built to address: not bad luck, but a choice made without bothering to look.
After Montgomery, a broker can’t wave that away with a preemption motion. It has to answer for the choice in court.
Who is liable in a truck accident is rarely a one-name answer. Liability can reach the driver, the trucking company, the broker, the shipper, the loader, or a maintenance contractor. Each of them may carry its own separate insurance policy, which is exactly why we look at all of them before deciding who to name in a claim.
Building a Freight Broker Liability Claim in Illinois
To win a negligent selection claim against a broker, we generally have to prove four things: the broker owed a duty of care when choosing a carrier, the broker breached that duty by picking an unsafe one without real vetting, the unsafe carrier caused the crash, and the crash caused your injuries and losses.
None of that gets proven with an argument alone. We build it with the broker’s internal vetting records, the carrier’s FMCSA safety rating at the time of dispatch, the carrier’s crash history pulled from SAFER, and the broker-carrier contract itself.
Illinois courts ask a simple question: what would a reasonably careful broker have done? A broker that never bothered to check a carrier’s safety record before loading it up with 40 tons of cargo and sending it down the highway is going to have a hard time arguing it acted reasonably.
Why the Broker’s Identity Matters Quickly After a Crash
You won’t find the broker’s name painted on the side of the truck. The name on the door belongs to the carrier, and the broker’s involvement usually only shows up in the paperwork behind the scenes: the bill of lading, the carrier’s dispatch records, the load confirmation.
Here’s where it gets uncomfortable. Dispatch systems are electronic, and electronic records get overwritten or deleted, sometimes as routine business practice and sometimes on purpose. We send a preservation letter fast for exactly this reason.
Illinois gives you two years to file a personal injury claim under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. That sounds like plenty of time, and for filing the lawsuit, it is. But the records that prove a broker’s negligence don’t wait two years. Brokers aren’t required to keep vetting and dispatch records forever, and a carrier that just caused a crash has every reason to lose the paperwork showing who hired it and why.
Talk to a Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Freight broker liability is still a developing area of law, and it just shifted significantly. The Montgomery ruling opened a courthouse door that had been shut for a lot of victims who had a real grievance against a broker but no way to get their case heard.
If you or someone in your family was hurt in a truck crash in Illinois, it’s worth finding out whether a broker’s carrier selection played a role. We can look into that for you.
Phillips Law Offices offers free consultations for truck accident victims in the Chicago area. Call (312) 346-4262 or visit our free consultation page to speak with a truck accident attorney about your situation.
This article has been prepared for general informational purposes and is subject to attorney review. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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