A recent Supreme Court ruling has freight brokers and shippers rethinking carrier selection and broker accountability. Taylor’s approach to carrier vetting has already been validated in practice — including a 92% reduction in freight fraud documented in a Highway case study. Here is how we do it.
The Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous ruling that weakens a federal preemption defense freight brokers have long relied on to limit their legal exposure. Under the old framework, brokers could often get state negligence claims dismissed early by arguing federal law blocked them. That protection is now significantly narrowed.
What it means practically is that brokers who cannot demonstrate a disciplined, documented carrier selection process are carrying more legal and financial risk than before. Plaintiffs can now pursue brokers more directly when a carrier they hired causes an accident or incident.
For shippers, the question worth asking your logistics partners is a simple one: how do you decide which carriers touch my freight?
Taylor has been in this business since 1850. The answer to that question has always mattered to us, not because of legal exposure, but because our customers’ inventory and their customers’ expectations are on the line every time a truck rolls.
Freight carrier approval is not a formality
Before a carrier moves Taylor freight, they go through a structured review. We look at safety ratings, CSA scores across all BASIC categories, out-of-service history, insurance levels, prior crashes and FMCSA authority standing. New authority carriers and those with known red flags do not make it into our network.
What we verify before approval
Approval is not the end of the process. Carriers in our network are monitored on an ongoing basis. When something changes, we review it. When a carrier no longer meets our standards, they come off our approved list.
The technology behind Taylor’s carrier compliance process
Taylor uses Highway as a core part of our carrier vetting infrastructure. Highway gives our team real-time carrier risk scoring, fraud detection and ongoing monitoring so we are not making decisions based on a snapshot that is months out of date. It works alongside our internal carrier vetting SOP, which defines exactly how carriers are approved, how often they are reviewed and what triggers a disqualification. The technology surfaces the data. The SOP governs what we do with it.
In 2023, CargoNet recorded 2,852 cargo theft and fraud events across North America — a 59% increase year-over-year, with average losses of $188,617 per incident. Taylor implemented Highway to address growing fraud risk head-on. The results were documented in a joint case study: fraud and double brokering dropped by 92% across Taylor’s carrier network, and by over 96% for food and beverage partners. Carrier onboarding became faster and more consistent, and management bandwidth previously lost to fraud-related issues was redirected to service delivery and business development.
Read the full case study at highway.com →Our carrier intelligence tools
A trusted carrier network built over 175 years
The carriers Taylor works with regularly have earned that position through consistent performance. These are relationships built over years of volume, communication and accountability on both sides. That kind of network does not come together overnight, and it is not something you can approximate by searching for the lowest available rate at the moment a load needs to move.
Taylor is not the cheapest option in the market. Our vetting process, our technology investment and the standards we hold our carrier partners to all have a cost. What they also have is a track record.
Frequently asked questions about freight broker carrier vetting
How does Taylor Logistics vet freight carriers?
Taylor vets carriers through a structured approval process covering FMCSA safety ratings, CSA scores, out-of-service history, insurance verification, prior crashes and fraud indicators. Approved carriers are then monitored continuously using Highway and governed by a documented internal SOP that defines approval criteria, review frequency and disqualification triggers.
What did the Supreme Court ruling on freight broker liability change?
The unanimous ruling weakened the federal preemption defense under the F4A that brokers used to get state negligence claims dismissed early. Brokers can now be pursued more directly when a carrier they hired causes an accident, making documented carrier vetting and compliance records more important than ever.
Does Taylor Logistics use technology to monitor carriers after approval?
Yes. Taylor uses Highway for real-time carrier risk scoring and fraud detection on an ongoing basis, not just at onboarding. That continuous monitoring, paired with our internal SOP, means carrier decisions are based on current data rather than a one-time review.
Why is Taylor Logistics not the cheapest freight broker option?
Our carrier vetting process, technology stack and compliance standards have a real cost. That cost reflects a deliberate investment in protecting our customers’ freight. Taylor has operated this way since 1850 and the Supreme Court ruling is a signal the broader industry is moving in the same direction.
The Supreme Court ruling is a signal that the industry standard is moving closer to what responsible brokers have always done. If you want to talk through what that looks like for your supply chain, we are happy to have that conversation.
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