Supreme Court ruling makes carrier vetting a high priority for brokers

The US Supreme Court decided — on May 14, 2026, in the case of Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II — to eliminate certain broker protections against liability, making carrier vetting and process documentation a new top priority for brokers.

Before this decision, the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) gave brokers some protection from being held directly liable for accidents involving the carriers they hire, according to Andrew Wimer, Associate GM, Transportation Management for Descartes. “Now, brokers immediately need to be able to demonstrate they not only check the carrier's authority and insurance, but are also following a structured, defensible vetting process.”

Wimer noted that the ruling was a major topic of discussion at the FreightWaves Fraud Symposium 2026 held in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 20. Discussions at the event emphasized that brokers should not expect a federally defined standard for carrier selection and instead will likely bear the responsibility of demonstrating due diligence in carrier vetting and maintaining proper documentation.

The Price of Safety

Wimer explains that if a broker is pulled into litigation because they hired an unsafe carrier that caused an accident, the costs could be astronomical and potentially put the company out of business.

Wimer, who has worked in the brokerage industry prior to Descartes, says exceptions to compliance standards are made by brokers in some cases. “With the new ruling, that's going to be non-existent, and I would say that's a good thing. Safety is critical. I think stronger accountability and safer oversight are positive changes that can benefit the industry.”

However, Wimer counters that there will probably be a ripple into the general economy as a result, because increased insurance premiums and more stringent vetting processes will make it more expensive to operate a brokerage — and those costs will be passed on to shippers, and ultimately to consumers. “So do the costs outweigh safety on the roads?” Wimer asks. “I don't think so, but this is an interesting landscape shift, and we will see how it plays out over the next several years.”

Other than the cost component, Wimer does not expect a massive disruption in trade, but there might be a strain on capacity as some carriers fail to pass broker vetting processes.

A Holistic View

In the past, many brokers simply asked: Does the carrier have active authority? Do they have cargo insurance that covers the value of the freight? Do they have a truck in the market to move the load? “That is no longer sufficient,” Wimer warns. “It has to be structured, it has to be continuous, and it always has to be documented.”

Brokers will increasingly need to evaluate a broader range of risk indicators, like safety history, insurance trends, operating authority anomalies, carrier identity, inspection data, fraud-related activity, and any patterns of changing behavior over time — all those factors will be way more important as part of a broker's due diligence, Wimer advises. “Brokers need a more holistic view of carrier risk rather than simply confirming that they have active authority and insurance.”

Wimer adds, “At the end of the day, the carrier hauling the freight is an extension of the broker's operating behavior and reputation. If you are putting that carrier in front of your customers, saying they passed your safety checks and vetting process, you need to know who they are. You need to know how they operate. And you need to know they meet your standards.”

Wimer continues, “Equally important is that brokers will have to show they did everything they can to ensure they hired a safe carrier, and it will need to be auditable. Brokers will have to prove they do this consistently on every shipment. That's going to push the industry towards standardized workflows and processes versus ad hoc decision-making. The brokers who can operationalize that consistently will be in a much stronger position. And that's where the compliance department will be critical.”

Technology is Non-Negotiable

“Tech is essential to be able to do the required vetting and documentation at scale,” Wimer asserts. “Many brokers still use manual processes, but doing this manually would be very difficult, especially when you're managing hundreds or thousands of carrier relationships. You need a tool that manages the data and also provides the timestamp and audit trail.”

One of the main challenges is that the data keeps changing, Wimer observes. A carrier that was legitimate this morning may no longer pass your due diligence this afternoon because a driver got in an accident, the FMCSA changed the safety scoring, or the insurance company dropped them. “If you try to track that manually, it's impossible,” says Wimer. “This is where tech comes into play. You need an automated platform to continuously monitor those changes in real time, so that you can make the best decision about the carrier you're booking at that moment. I think technology is non-negotiable at this point.”

Wimer says a broker also needs technology to ensure they follow a consistent and structured workflow. The right platform can establish a baseline of checks to validate a carrier.

For example, Descartes MyCarrierPortal™ is a solution for carriers onboarding, compliance, and fraud prevention that can help brokers automate the vetting process — offering safety history, crash data, identity verification, VIN validation, and monitoring of authority and insurance in real time.

“Leveraging a reliable technology platform to support a structured, documented carrier vetting process is going to be absolutely critical to protecting a brokerage,” Wimer concludes. “But strong human oversight is key. Technology helps identify the risk, improves the documentation, and establishes the audit trail, but brokers still need to exercise judgment and improve due diligence on every one of their bookings. The brokers who can adapt the fastest to those requirements will be the ones who are safer down the road.”