The largest freight broker in the country is quietly cutting carriers from its load board over FMCSA safety scores — and the timing is no accident. C.H. Robinson has begun sending notices titled “Changes to carrier eligibility” that move carriers to non-certified status, locking them out of booking on the Navisphere load board until their safety scores improve. The trigger sits two weeks earlier, in a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that told every broker in America they can now be sued for putting freight on an unsafe truck.
- Brokers now use full FMCSA BASIC data, not just out-of-service rates, when scoring carriers for participation.
- Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Montgomery v. Caribe allows state negligent-hiring claims, exposing brokers to liability for unsafe carrier selection.
- Small carriers, especially one-truck operators, face immediate revenue loss if large brokers tighten eligibility criteria or deny access.
- Dispatchers should pull full SMS BASIC profiles, identify near-threshold carriers, file DataQs, improve inspections, and diversify brokerage relationships now.
- Expect other major brokers to follow suit; treat carrier BASIC profiles as critical business assets and prioritize score improvement.
What the Notices Actually Say
The eligibility notices tell recipients their company “exceeds intervention thresholds for C.H. Robinson’s scoring model based on data from the FMCSA,” and that the account is moved to non-certified status effective immediately until BASIC scores come back into range. Carriers lose the ability to book new freight on Navisphere and through their aligned representative right away — though loads already in transit deliver and get paid, and existing payables process in full, according to Overdrive. The catch that has owner-operators furious: a carrier can have a clean out-of-service rate and pass every inspection and still exceed the broker’s internal threshold, because the scoring model draws on the full range of FMCSA BASIC data, not OOS violations alone, as FreightWaves reported.
The Supreme Court Ruling Behind the Move
On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that state-law negligent-hiring claims against freight brokers are not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. Writing for the Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett found that requiring a broker to use ordinary care in selecting a carrier “concerns” motor vehicles and therefore falls within the FAAAA’s safety exception, the reasoning laid out by SCOTUSblog and in the Court’s opinion. The case grew out of a 2017 crash on Interstate 70 in Illinois in which Shawn Montgomery, stopped on the shoulder with a mechanical problem, was rear-ended and lost his leg; the load on the striking truck had been arranged by C.H. Robinson. The decision means brokers can be held liable in any state for negligently hiring an unsafe carrier — and, as FreightWaves put it, gives every broker a powerful financial incentive to dispatch only well-rated carriers.
We’re trimming our carrier base and you were deemed on the not-safe list for our new standards.
Overdrive, on the notice one Arizona owner-operator received
Why This Hits Small Carriers Hardest
One-truck and small-fleet operators feel this first. Ernesto Charbonier, an Arizona produce hauler running a single truck, was locked out of Navisphere right after completing a load, told he had landed on the “not safe” list under the broker’s tightened standards. For a small carrier, a single broker pulling access can erase a meaningful slice of available freight overnight. The pressure is compounding from another direction, too: C.H. Robinson has also partnered with Highway on real-time carrier identity verification, layering fraud screening on top of the new safety-score gate. Expect other large brokers to follow C.H. Robinson’s lead now that the liability exposure is identical for all of them.
What Dispatchers Should Do This Week
- Pull every carrier’s full SMS/BASIC profile now. Do not rely on the out-of-service rate alone — brokers are scoring the whole picture.
- Identify carriers near intervention thresholds. Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, and Vehicle Maintenance BASICs are the usual triggers.
- Build a score-improvement plan. Clean inspections, DataQs challenges on erroneous violations, and a tighter pre-trip routine move the numbers over time.
- Diversify beyond one mega-broker. If Navisphere access disappears, direct shippers and other brokers keep your carriers loaded.
- Get carrier identity verification in order. Highway and similar checks are now part of getting approved, not just safety scores.
The Bottom Line
Montgomery v. Caribe did not just change how brokers think about liability — it changed who gets to haul freight. Safety scores are now a gate to the load board, not just a number on a federal website, and C.H. Robinson is unlikely to be the last broker to tighten the bar. Watch for similar eligibility notices from other large brokerages in the coming weeks, treat your carriers’ BASIC profiles as a business-critical asset, and start the score-improvement work now — before a non-certified notice arrives mid-load.
