Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act of 2024
Key claim: Brokers and similar companies that hire trucking firms would be treated as having chosen reasonably if they confirm the carrier is DOT-registered, insured, and FMCSA-compliant, shielding them from negligent-selection claims, while DOT would have to rewrite how it decides a carrier is unfit to operate.
Abstract
(HR5337 · 119th Congress) Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act of 2024 This bill establishes a standard of care for the selection of brokers and other entities that contract with motor carriers (e.g., trucking companies) for the shipment of goods or household goods. (A broker is the middle person between a shipper and a motor carrier. Brokers arrange for the transportation of property or household goods.) Specifically, the bill requires such entities to verify that a transporting motor carrier (1) is properly registered with the Department of Transportation (DOT); (2) has obtained the minimum required insurance coverage; and (3) is in compliance with all Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety standards, including through a public confirmation statement. Entities that comply with the verification requirements shall be considered reasonable and prudent in the selection of a covered motor carrier (for the purposes of a claim of negligent selection of a motor carrier). Further, DOT must promulgate final regulations that revise the methodology for issuing motor carrier safety fitness determinations. The regulations must provide a procedure for DOT to determine whether a motor carrier is not fit to operate a commercial motor vehicle that is in, or affects, interstate commerce. The bill exempts from the verification requirements an individual shipper (i.e., a shipper that owns the goods being transported and pays the tariff transportation charges) that contracts with a covered motor carrier. Latest action (2025-09-12): Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
Why this matters
Negligent-selection lawsuits against brokers have become a major cost driver in trucking, and the bill would set a federal baseline for what counts as reasonable carrier vetting while forcing DOT to modernize its long-criticized unfit-carrier methodology. Because it remains at the subcommittee referral stage, current broker liability continues to be governed by state common law and existing FMCSA fitness ratings.