Brokers may be liable?
Be the carrier they can trust.
Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II · U.S. Supreme Court · May 14, 2026
The Supreme Court ended brokers' preemption defense for negligent carrier selection — so brokers and shippers are vetting harder, and the FMCSA snapshot isn't enough. FleetDog produces a tamper-evident Asset Qualification Record (AQR) for the exact driver, tractor, and trailer on a load — on demand, dated today, signed for legal use.
Fully loaded demo with sample data · no credit card · or contact us
The industry on Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II
“If a broker has no documented carrier vetting process, that absence is itself evidence.”
“The liability does not disappear. It redistributes. It redistributes to the parties who had the data and could have acted on it.”
“While the decision directly affects freight brokers, retailers and other shippers are unlikely to be insulated from the broader operational consequences.”
If you run a fleet right now, three things keep you up at night.
None of them are your imagination. Each one has a FleetDog answer — a report you can put in front of the person applying the pressure.
“Will brokers keep tendering us loads?”
After Montgomery, every load a broker books is a selection decision they may have to defend in court — with no federal cap on the verdict (a broker's required federal bond is $75,000; a jury's award isn't bound by it). The average verdict in million-dollar truck cases grew from $2.3M to $22.3M in under a decade.[1] Brokers are culling carriers they can't document — and shippers who pick carriers directly face the same scrutiny.
The answer: the Asset Qualification Record (AQR)
A signed, tamper-evident qualification packet for the specific driver, truck, and trailer on the load — dated the day of tender. You hand brokers their due diligence, pre-solved. Carriers who make vetting easy win the load.
“Will we keep our insurance — at any price?”
Truck insurance hit a record $0.102 per mile in 2024 after a 12.5% spike the year before,[2] excess coverage rates have jumped 75%+,[3] and major insurers have pulled back from trucking. Promises don't move a renewal quote. Documented, dated safety management does.
The answer: the Insurance Review Report
One click compiles your trailing period into an underwriter-facing narrative — inspection trends, corrective-action follow-through, maintenance records. Underwriters reward fleets that walk in with 90+ days of documented trend data.
“What if DOT shows up tomorrow?”
Most fleets don't actually know what an auditor would find. The gaps hide in driver qualification (DQ) files, missed annual inspections, and corrective actions nobody closed out — and the average audit fine runs five figures.
The answer: the Audit Gap Report + Audit Compiler
The Audit Gap Report scores your fleet as if DOT audited you today, item by item. Fix the gaps, watch the score move. When a real notice arrives, the Audit Compiler assembles the complete response package in minutes — not weeks.
Already on FleetDog? Your Asset Qualification Record is one click away. Log in →
And staying qualified? That's the easy part.
SmartScan turns any compliance document into filed, validated data the moment it arrives. No manual entry, no typos, no backlog.
Load a Document
Drag in a PDF, run it through the office scanner, or snap a phone photo — licenses, medical cards, MVRs, inspections, registrations.
AI Reads Every Field
Names, numbers, dates, endorsements, violation codes — extracted, validated server-side, and confidence-scored. Anything uncertain gets a quick human look.
Filed, Updated, Preserved
Compliance status updates instantly and the original document is preserved on the record for auditors. Hours of filing become seconds — with error-free input.
For renewals, FleetDog even does the chasing. FleetMail emails the driver a renewal request; the driver replies with a photo; SmartScan files it. No app, no portal, no training — for anyone.
On-Demand Asset Vetting
ODAV
Living, not stale.
Today's pre-trip. Today's medical card. Today's clearinghouse status. Not last quarter's annual inspection.
Load-level, not company-level.
Qualify the driver, truck, and trailer actually rolling — the unit of negligence after Montgomery.
Measured, not checked.
With TraXion-instrumented pre-trips (coming soon), tread depth and brake-pad wear become sensor readings, not signatures.
The federal snapshot says who you were.
The AQR shows who you are today.
Public FMCSA safety scores are company-level, updated monthly from a snapshot that takes about ten days to process, over a two-year lookback[4] — and the GAO found most carriers are inspected too infrequently for those scores to even be reliable.[5] They can't tell a broker whether the truck rolling toward their dock passed a pre-trip inspection this morning. FleetDog's AQR is built from your live compliance records — qualification measured at the level where negligence is actually litigated: this driver, this truck, this trailer, this load.
Lookback window behind a public FMCSA score
Typical DOT audit fine — prep drops from weeks to minutes
Your AQR — issued and signed on demand
The Operational Advantage of Extreme Competence
Why this changes your posture
When a broker faces a deposition asking how they vetted the carrier on a load — or a plaintiff attorney evaluates whether to file at all — your case profile changes when you can produce a complete, tamper-evident Asset Qualification Record (AQR) within an hour. Sophisticated defendants don't draw the marginal lawsuits. They draw the merit-only cases, and defend them on documented competence.
And your negotiation posture changes too. AQR-first carriers don't just survive Montgomery — they win loads at better rates because brokers prefer the carriers who pre-solve their vetting burden.
Tamper-evident
Auditable
Built to defeat fabrication claims
Every Compliance Workflow, One Platform
From document scanning to DOT audit — every feature below is live in the product and walkable in the demo.
AI Document Reading (SmartScan)
Upload or email a photo of any compliance document. AI extracts every field — names, numbers, dates, endorsements, violation codes — with confidence scoring and server-side validation. Two clicks to process: notify driver, confirm the AI's read. Done.
[Screenshot: AI reading a CDL photo with extracted fields]
Compliance Center
Every expiring license, overdue physical, and open violation — one screen, zero surprises. Color-coded urgency, batch notifications, stale item flagging, and full activity timelines. Every issue can be fully managed without leaving this page.
[Screenshot: Compliance Center with expiring issues and color-coded urgency]
Driver Onboarding
Every new hire walks the same path. Structured checklists across two tracks — before driving and within 30 days. The Clear For Duty gate ensures no driver operates without a complete driver qualification (DQ) file. When the audit notice comes, every file is complete. Your insurer will notice too.
[Screenshot: Driver onboarding checklist with completion progress]
Incident Response
Driver gets pulled over? FleetDog captures the inspection, flags violations, and generates Corrective Action Forms (CAFs) automatically — with digital signatures, supervisor sign-off, and webform completion for assigned staff, no login required. Every remediation is documented, dated, and audit-ready.
[Screenshot: Roadside inspection with auto-generated corrective action form]
Pre-Trip Inspections → Maintenance
Drivers inspect from their phone (QR code, no app); FleetDog routes what they find. Findings become work orders, work orders track to certified completion — including inspector-qualification gates for annual inspections and brake work (49 CFR §396.19/.25). This is the freshness engine behind the AQR: today's pre-trip, this week's resolved defects.
[Screenshot: Pre-trip finding routed to a work order in the maintenance hub]
Audit Gap Report + DOT Audit Compiler
The Audit Gap Report scores your fleet as if DOT audited you today — DQ-file completeness, inspections, corrective actions — so you fix gaps before an auditor finds them. When a real notice arrives, enter the date and the Audit Compiler pulls your complete response package in minutes: auto-calculated lookback windows, recommended driver sample sizes, section-by-section checklists.
[Screenshot: Audit Compiler with progress tracking across five sections]
Also Included
Everything else you need to run a compliant fleet.
Equipment 360
Registrations, annual inspections, maintenance history, and accident records for every vehicle and trailer.
Complete Driver Records
Licenses, physicals, MVRs, drug tests, training certs, incidents — everything auditors ask for, instantly accessible.
Multi-Org Management
Master accounts for C/TPAs and consultants. Manage multiple organizations with role-based access and aggregate reporting.
Driver Recognition & Rewards
Most compliance work is corrections — recognition balances it. Points for clean inspections and safe milestones, a leaderboard, advisory reward budgets, and gift-card tracking.
On the Roadmap
In final development — available to all subscribers at launch.
TraXion-Instrumented Pre-Trips
Tread depth and brake-pad wear as sensor readings, not signatures. Measured inspections feed the AQR — qualification a plaintiff's expert can't wave away.
Brokers & shippers: Montgomery moved your cheese too.
Your carriers need FleetDog-qualified assets to keep your loads moving — and defensible. Help them get there, and turn your carrier relationships into a revenue line while you do.
Refer carriers, share the revenue
Send carriers from your roster; we onboard them. You earn a percentage of the subscription revenue for every carrier you sign up — your book of relationships becomes a recurring income stream, and your loads get AQR-backed vetting.
Become a Local Territory Manager (LTM)
Go deeper: run FleetDog compliance services for the fleets in your territory as a standing practice. You know the carriers; we supply the platform, the playbook, and the reports their brokers, insurers, and auditors ask for.
See It in Action
Our demo is a fully loaded FleetDog environment with realistic fleet data — drivers, equipment, compliance issues, and roadside inspections. Download test documents and try the AI scanners yourself. A built-in guide walks you through every workflow, ending with the three reports: Audit Gap, Asset Qualification, and Insurance Review.
The demo data is a tribute to iconic characters and music stars of the 1980s. You might recognize a few names.
No credit card required. Demo accounts include 7 days of access with up to two 7-day extensions.
Simple, Transparent Pricing
$34 per power unit per month. Every power unit includes 2 driver seats.
Get Pricing DetailsAdditional drivers beyond the included seats are $34/month each. Save 5% with a 6-month commitment or 10% with a 12-month commitment.
Let's Talk
Whether you want a live walkthrough, pricing information, or have questions about FleetDog — we'd love to hear from you.
Sources
- ATRI, Understanding the Impact of Nuclear Verdicts on the Trucking Industry (2020) — average verdict in $1M+ truck cases grew from $2.3M (2010) to $22.3M (2018).
- ATRI, Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2025 Update — insurance premiums rose 12.5% in 2023 and a further 3.0% in 2024 to a record $0.102/mile.
- Swiss Re 2024 Sigma report — trucking among sectors most affected by mega verdicts; excess coverage rate increases of more than 75%.
- FMCSA CSA Help Center — SMS results are updated monthly from a snapshot that takes ~10 days to process and validate, over a 24-month lookback.
- U.S. GAO, GAO-14-114 — most carriers are inspected too infrequently to produce reliable SMS scores.
- Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238 (U.S. May 14, 2026) — decided 9–0; state negligent-selection claims against brokers are not FAAAA-preempted.