Trucking Rates SOAR After SCOTUS Decision | Brokers FLEE ‼️

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]So, I'm over here in Eaton, Ohio and uh there's a bunch of foreigners over here.

[00:00:05]You know, this guy right here, the guy right next to me, all along uh in all these trucks, okay? None of them can get loads out of Ohio today. And uh I was talking to to the Amon guy right here while I was in there at the jobby place getting something to eat. And uh he said that the reason that the they can't get freight out of Ohio today is because the freight brokers won't work with them anymore. What's going on, good and wonderful people? It's Sage here and I'm back with another banger today. So, the Supreme Court of the United States came down with a ruling that will essentially affect the trucking industry for several years to come. Now, this is one of the biggest trucking legal decisions that we've seen in recent memory and specifically we're going to be talking about the Montgomery versus Caribe case. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously that freight brokers can potentially be held liable after trucking crashes if they hire unsafe carriers. Now, as you guys seen at the beginning of the video, the effect was almost immediate. that the reason that the they can't get freight out of Ohio today is because the freight brokers won't work with them anymore, okay? Apparently, what has happened is that you know, yesterday they had the rule the Supreme Court ruling that found brokers could be held liable for accidents with carriers with red flags.

[00:01:33]Apparently, that the trickle-down effect happened like that. And that tells you right there that these brokers were fully capable of vetting the carriers before giving them freight. However, these brokers are bad faith actors, very shady and they're complicit with the fraud with these chameleon carriers.

[00:01:53]Anyone of us can go online, go on Safer, or in a company's DOT number, and just look at their inspection history, their out-of-service records. It only takes a few seconds. So, if we can do it, why can't these brokers do it?

[00:02:08]I was looking up at some of these DOT numbers to these guys, and they do have a pretty substantial track record of unsafe behavior, accidents, high out-of-service rates, things like that. So, guys, here here's what I got to say. This is going to be changing in a hurry. Brokers are not just thinking once about it. They're thinking twice, three, and even four times about who they want to work with.

[00:02:33]Well, like I said earlier, they're complicit in the fraud with these shady and chameleon carriers. And ultimately, it's all about greed and profit at the end of the day. Who can move the freight for the cheapest? But thankfully, we have the Supreme Court to interpret laws. More on this later. The ruling has already shaken up trucking, and more change is yet to come. Freight brokerages, carrier relationships, insurance costs, lawsuits, safety compliance, etc. will all be affected because of the Montgomery versus Caribe case. So, to go into details about the case, basically, there was a lawsuit filed by Montgomery to this trucking broker by the name of CH Robinson. And basically, the plaintiff, Montgomery, claims that CH Robinson should have known that the carrier that they employed, that they hired to haul the freight, was unsaved.

[00:03:30]They should have done their due diligence, essentially. But CH Robinson, they contested otherwise. They said, "Hey, look, we're protected under uh the FAAA laws." Basically, uh the Federal Aviation Act of 1994. And basically, these protections extend to trucking. And in the event of accidents, brokers are not, you know, legally responsible. Uh, the carriers bear most of the responsibility. However, while there are still some protections for brokers, the Supreme Court basically said, "Hey, look, we're going to rule against you, C.H. Robinson, because ultimately, you cannot use this FAAAA Act as a blanket shield for uh legal liability when it comes to negligent hiring lawsuits." And because of this Supreme Court ruling, brokers will now have to change how they vet carriers moving forward. As I mentioned earlier, these shady carriers wanted to move the freight as cheaply as possible. That's why they've looked the other way when it came to these fly-by-night trucking companies. Now, I remember watching parts of Miranda's video on this very Supreme Court case.

[00:04:45]Uh, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with Miranda, you should be if you watch my channel, but she runs the Trucking Babe Successful YouTube channel, another news uh trucking news channel, and basically, she predicted that hundreds of mom-and-pop brokers are actually going to go out of business and cease operations because of the Montgomery vs. Karrigell case. Because of the insurance costs going up and because of the risk associated with being a broker now, we can expect, potentially, 50% of brokers to go out. Now, which brokers are going to go out? It's going to be the mom-and-pop brokerages, right? The small brokers. It's not going to be brokers like TQL, MegaCorp, C.H. Robinson, and so on and so forth. Now, this is music to my ears. However, we still are going to have the OG brokers like TQL, Total Quality Logistics, as well as C.H.

[00:05:40]Robinson, still in service, still running. And if If remember, we actually covered TQL a few months ago on this channel. And basically, they named the company Totachi Express, a Chicagoland trucking company, carrier of the year in 2025.

[00:05:58]>> So, I just saw this. I don't know if you guys have seen this or not, but TQL awarded Sam Express and Totachi Express the carrier of the year 2025.

[00:06:08]This was on their [clears throat] Instagram page. I just saw this recently, and this is wild for me to realize that these big brokers are the ones that are keeping these larger operations in business like this. Now, what's wrong with that is that Totachi Express, a Chicagoland company, is tied to a network of chameleon carriers, perhaps well over a dozen chameleon carriers with very questionable safety records.

[00:06:36]>> crash in Indiana. It killed four people.

[00:06:38]The driver reportedly entered the United States under President Biden using the CBP 1 app and released on parole. So, yes, sadly, TQL is not going anywhere.

[00:06:47]However, broker vetting will inevitably get stricter. Brokers will now have to look at CSA scores, inspection data, crash history, insurance, and safety ratings, driver violations as well. I forgot to mention out-of-service records, etc. A laundry list of things when it comes to hiring or contracting carriers. However, the However the term is, y'all know what I'm trying to say. And because of this, vetting is becoming more stricter, it seems like it's going to put smaller carriers at a disadvantage. In addition, carriers with new authorities, smaller fleets, any company that has questionable inspections and poor data, and essentially, this Supreme Court ruling just made it even more difficult for chameleon carriers to operate. And then, of course, we have the rise in insurance premiums. Since brokers can now face lawsuits and large settlements, they may also face higher insurance costs, not to mention trucking has already been rocked by a series of nuclear verdicts. And we've talked about a couple of those nuclear verdicts on this channel. We have the ghost driver crash with Schneider as well as the ice storm crash in Texas with Prime Inc. And then we have the winter storm crash with Warner. The driver, even though Warner didn't physically hit the driver, the driver hit Warner. Warner was still held liable for actually being there, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[00:08:16]Crazy, crazy nuclear verdict, by the way. What's going on, everybody? So, I'm actually editing the video and I noticed that Warner actually were was able to reverse the $100 million nuclear verdict. I did not know this at all. I'm just now finding this out, but yeah, I just wanted to update you guys on that case with Warner. However, despite these nuclear verdicts, the larger mega carriers actually do benefit from this Supreme Court ruling, believe it or not. Now, the reason why I say this is because I mentioned earlier how smaller carriers are at a disadvantage, especially smaller carriers with new authorities.

[00:08:54]They haven't established those broker relationships, and at the same time, they can't really compete with a mega carrier in the sense that, you know, there's the carriers, the mega carriers that is, they have safety departments, they're self-insured, they have legal teams, they have compliance departments. So, yeah, it seems like this is probably one of the unintended consequences of this Supreme Court ruling, even though, you know, we have mom and pop carriers that do the right thing, that do their due diligence, that, you know, aren't breaking the law, that aren't editing logbooks, etc., doing any shady crap like that. But, let's talk about the bright side, because I did see earlier a fellow trucking YouTuber by the name of Cam the Trucker. He had a screenshot of the DAT load board. We see freight rates at $3 a mile. I'm assuming that's a drive-in freight. And it looks like it's not a coincidence, either, because according to FreightWaves, spot market rates are up 35% year-over-year. And not only that, they're at multi-year highs, as well. So, yeah, we love to see it.

[00:10:02]And personally, I think that the Supreme Court they did get it right. Obviously, there is some downside to it. There will be unintended consequences for smaller carriers, like increases in insurance premiums, as well as legal costs for the brokers, at least. But ultimately, I do think the ruling is going to force more accountability, as well as transparency in the trucking industry. And that's what we love to see at the end of the day. With that being said, I will end the video here. Thank you all for watching. We are almost at 10,000 subscribers. Couldn't have gotten there without you. Without you, there is no me. You guys are the greatest. You guys are the best audience on the internet.

[00:10:41]And if you enjoy content like this, hit the like button. Comment, rate, share, and subscribe. I am Tajia Ellison, and I will see you next time.