2004 · $23.8M verdict
Schramm v. Foster
The case that put 'negligent selection' on every broker's risk register. The court held that a broker owes a duty of reasonable care in selecting a motor carrier, and that hiring a carrier with a poor safety profile on a single load is enough to expose the broker to direct liability when that carrier causes a fatal crash.
- Verdict
- $23.8M
- Year
- 2004
- Court
- U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
What happened
- The broker dispatched a load to a carrier whose FMCSA safety profile showed a pattern of issues at the time of booking.
- The carrier's driver was involved in a fatal collision with the Schramm family.
- Plaintiffs sued the broker directly under a negligent-selection theory rather than only pursuing the motor carrier.
The holding
The court refused to dismiss the broker. Brokers have an independent duty to use reasonable care in carrier selection — and 'reasonable care' is measured against what FMCSA data was publicly available at the time of booking.
What brokers should take from it
- FMCSA data is a public record. Juries assume you looked at it.
- 'We always use this carrier' is not a defense — each load is its own selection decision.
- The standard isn't perfection; it's what a reasonable broker would have done with the data in front of them.
What BrokerShield would have produced
- Pulled the carrier's current FMCSA snapshot at the moment of tender — authority, insurance, OOS rates, crash history, BASIC percentiles.
- Surfaced the carrier's safety red flags before a load was assigned, with a named human required to sign off on the override.
- Generated a time-stamped, immutable Proof of Diligence PDF tied to that specific load — the document plaintiff's counsel will subpoena first.
Summary based on publicly reported case materials. Not legal advice — talk to your counsel.