Glossary

The vocabulary of a carrier-selection decision, defined plainly. These are the terms that appear in the FMCSA record you read at tender, the policy form your underwriter quotes, and the deposition question two years later.

The law

FAAAA preemption (49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1))

Bars states from enforcing a law "related to a price, route, or service" of a motor carrier or broker with respect to the transportation of property. The provision brokers relied on to defeat negligent-selection claims before Montgomery.

Safety exception (§ 14501(c)(2)(A))

Provides that preemption "shall not restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor vehicles." Montgomery held negligent-selection claims fall inside it.

Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC

No. 24-1238, 608 U.S. ___ (2026), decided May 14, 2026, unanimous. Held that FAAAA preemption does not bar a state negligent-hiring claim against a freight broker. Full explanation →

Negligent carrier selection

A state negligence claim that a broker or shipper failed to use reasonable care in choosing a motor carrier, and that the failure was a proximate cause of the harm.

Standard of care

What a reasonable party in your position would have done when selecting the carrier. Not defined by statute; established at trial through practice, expert testimony, and your own written policy.

The carrier record

Operating authority

FMCSA registration permitting a party to operate. Distinct kinds: common, contract and broker. Status may be active, inactive, revoked or not authorized.

Broker authority

Authority to arrange transportation by others rather than to haul. A party holding it can legally re-broker a load. Why it matters →

Safety rating

Satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory — or unrated. Conditional means inadequate safety management controls were found. Unrated is not satisfactory. Always read the rating's date alongside it.

Out-of-service percentage

Share of roadside inspections resulting in the vehicle or driver being placed out of service, read against the national average.

BIPD

Bodily Injury and Property Damage liability. FMCSA shows the amount required and the amount on file; only the filing responds to a claim.

Cargo insurance / surety bond

Coverage for the freight itself, and — for brokers — the BMC-84/85 financial-responsibility bond.

Fraud patterns

Double brokering

Re-tendering a load to a carrier the original party never approved. Detectable pre-tender via broker-authority conflict or shared dispatch identifiers. How to detect it →

Chameleon / reincarnated / phoenix carrier

A re-registration of a carrier whose authority was revoked or whose safety record caught up with it. Detected by continuity, not by the new record. The signals →

Coverage

Contingent auto liability (CAL)

Generally sits behind a motor carrier's primary auto policy, responding when the carrier's coverage fails. Not the same as coverage for the broker's own negligent selection.

Freight broker liability (FBL)

Coverage addressed to the broker's own errors, including carrier selection. The form gap →

The record

Selection record

The contemporaneous documentation of one selection decision: identity, signals at tender, named decider, timestamp, and the reason for any override.

Documented override

Proceeding past a flag with a recorded reason. Documented commercial judgment is defensible; an undocumented override is the opposite.

Coverage gap

A source that was restricted, timed out, or returned nothing. Recorded as a gap and allowed to degrade the decision — never reported as a clean result.

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