Glossary

Negligent selection

Negligent selection, sometimes discussed as negligent hiring in this context, is a legal theory that can hold a broker or shipper responsible when a carrier it selected causes harm, on the argument that a reasonable party would not have hired that carrier. It draws on the common-law duty, described in the Restatement (Second) of Torts section 411, that attaches when a principal hires an independent contractor for work carrying a risk of physical harm to others.

Why documentation figures in

Litigation in this area has turned in part on what the broker did to vet the carrier before the load. In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II (2026), the Supreme Court held 9-0 that federal law (the FAAAA) does not preempt state-law negligent-selection suits against brokers, so these claims can proceed in state court. The practical implication is documented diligence: courts look at whether a broker checked the carrier's authority, insurance, and safety record, and whether it kept a record of having done so.

What a documented process looks like

A documented process generally means checking the carrier's active operating authority, its insurance on file, and its safety history at the time of booking, and retaining what was checked. Because roughly 94% of carriers have never received an FMCSA safety rating, a process that relies on the rating alone leaves most of the market unevaluated; the underlying inspection, out-of-service, crash, and authority data is what remains to look at. This page explains the concept and is not legal advice. fleetfax produces a timestamped record of what was checked on a carrier, which is the kind of documentation such a process calls for.

What the record supports

A documented process leaves something to point to later: which carrier was checked, what its authority and insurance showed, and when. That is why a timestamped record of the check matters as much as the check itself. Because most carriers carry no safety rating, the defensible record rests on the underlying federal data, the authority, insurance, inspection, out-of-service, and crash history that exists whether or not a rating was ever issued. A process built only on the rating leaves most carriers with nothing to evaluate; a process built on the underlying data has something to show for nearly all of them. This page describes the concept and is not legal advice.

Related terms