WHO IT AFFECTS – WHO IS THIS FOR
Six categories of organizations are operating in a fundamentally different legal environment since May 14, 2026. Each one has a different exposure. Each one has a different program available through this practice.
Freight Brokers
28,000 licensed freight brokers in America woke up on May 15, 2026, without the legal protection they had operated under for 50 years. The six standard data points used to vet carriers across the industry were built for a legal environment that no longer exists. Your current vetting process will not survive a post-Montgomery deposition. The Protocol replaces assumptions with a forensic standard. The goal is not to win at trial. The goal is to make sure the plaintiff’s attorney finds nothing to work with when discovery begins.
Shippers and Manufacturers
You hired the broker. Plaintiff attorneys do not stop at the broker. The question being asked in depositions right now is whether the shipper exercised reasonable care in selecting, qualifying, and monitoring the broker it hired to move its freight. Most shippers have no documented answer to that question. This is not an insurance problem. It is a documented process problem, and no one has defined that standard yet. This program does.
Trucking Companies with Brokerage Authority
If your company moves freight as a carrier and also operates with a brokerage authority, you carry the exposure of both. Carrier selection liability, the negligent selection standard, and the documentation requirements of the post-Montgomery era apply to your brokerage operation whether your primary identity is as a carrier or not. The Protocol applies to your brokerage function regardless of size.
Transportation Defense Attorneys
The Shipper/Broker/Carrier Defense Protocol℠ was built on what plaintiff attorneys demand and what defense attorneys need. It creates a documented, timestamped, systematically maintained record of every carrier selection decision, every data point reviewed, and every action taken at every operational moment. That record is the defense. Norris Beren works directly with transportation defense attorneys as a consulting resource in active litigation and as a program architect before litigation begins.
Insurance Brokers and Insurance Companies
Your policyholders have a problem your policy cannot solve alone. Insurance covers the verdict. The Protocol prevents the verdict. These are not competing services. They are sequential. The broker or shipper who has implemented the Protocol presents a documented risk profile that already exceeds standard primary liability underwriting requirements. That changes the risk conversation and reduces claim potential payouts. Collaboration and licensing arrangements are available for insurance brokers and carriers who want to bring this program to their policyholders.
Associations and Training Organizations
TIA members, IANA members, TCA Members, NASSTRAC members, NIT-LEAGUE Members and many more state trucking association members, shipper associations, and their professional peers are the core of the audience this ruling affects. Association-endorsed, co-branded, and member education versions of the Protocol are available. This is the most significant broker liability development in the history of the industry. Your members need a program, not a white paper.
