After the May 2026 Supreme Court ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, one critical question remained unanswered: whether the safety exception extends to cargo theft and property loss claims. Three recent federal district court decisions have determined that it does not. These rulings provide much needed clarity on how to distinguish property loss claims from the personal injury claims at issue in Montgomery.
Across these decisions, the courts drew a consistent line that cargo theft involves “deception-induced deprivation of property,” not physical danger on the roadways. Because cargo theft plaintiffs do not allege that carriers drove dangerously or endangered motorists, their claims lack the connection to motor vehicle safety that the Montgomery safety exception requires. The courts further noted that allowing such claims creates the patchwork of state-by-state tort obligations that Congress’ FAAAA preemption sought to eliminate.
To learn more about the decisions and what they mean for brokers facing cargo loss claims, we encourage you to read the complete legal alert.