Vetting how-to
What a Defensible Carrier File Looks Like: A Broker Vetting Checklist
By The Draylo Team · July 10, 2026
The short answer
A defensible carrier file is a dated, contemporaneous record of the reasonable steps you took to vet a carrier before tendering: the FMCSA authority and safety data you reviewed, the insurance you verified, the criteria you applied, and who approved the decision. After the Supreme Court's Montgomery ruling, that file is your evidence of "ordinary care" in a negligent-selection suit — and the key is that it's created at the moment of the decision, not reconstructed years later in a deposition.
The short answer
A defensible carrier file is a contemporaneous, dated record showing you exercised reasonable care in selecting a carrier: the federal authority and safety data you checked, the insurance you verified, the criteria you applied, who made the decision, and any red flags plus your reason for proceeding. It exists so that if a carrier you chose is later in a crash and your brokerage is sued for negligent selection, you can show what you actually knew and did — captured at the time, not pieced together after the fact.
This matters because of where broker liability now stands. In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC (U.S. May 14, 2026), the Supreme Court held that state-law negligent-selection claims against brokers are not preempted, so "did the broker act reasonably?" is now a live question in court. The Court set no official checklist — but legal analysis of the ruling points clearly to what a reasonable, documentable process contains.
Why the file matters more than the gut call
The duty in a negligent-selection case comes from ordinary state tort law — the Supreme Court grounded it in "common-law duties and standards of care," citing the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 411 on negligent selection of a contractor. The standard is reasonableness, and reasonableness is proven with evidence, not recollection.
The most consistent advice from transportation lawyers after Montgomery is about timing: demonstrate reasonable care contemporaneously with the hiring, rather than reconstruct it years later in litigation. A file built the day you tendered is credible. A summary written after a lawsuit lands, from memory, is not. As one defense-firm analysis put it, the vetting process is now effectively part of the product — every carrier selection is a potential exhibit.
What belongs in the file
Legal analysis of post-Montgomery discovery gives a concrete picture of what plaintiffs' attorneys will look for — which is, in effect, the list of what a defensible file should contain. These are the records that become exhibits in a negligent-selection case.
For the insurance layer specifically: if a COI is what you're holding, our free COI reader extracts the certificate's coverage fields and checks them against your minimums — no signup, and documents aren't stored for anonymous users.
- ›FMCSA operating authority and status — active authority, allowed to operate, no out-of-service order — as of the date you tendered
- ›Safety data reviewed: safety rating, inspection history, prior out-of-service violations, and BASIC percentile scores
- ›Authority age and crash history — a very new authority or a poor crash record is a factor a reasonable broker would weigh
- ›Insurance verification: the coverage you confirmed and how (not just a certificate on file — coverage checked against the insurer or federal filing)
- ›Onboarding and approval documentation — who reviewed the carrier, what criteria applied, and who approved
- ›Any red flags and your documented rationale for proceeding anyway
The four properties that make a file actually defensible
Having the documents isn't enough; the record has to hold up. Four properties separate a defensible file from a folder of PDFs.
- ›Contemporaneous — created at the moment of the decision, not after a claim arises
- ›Load- and decision-specific — tied to the carrier and the tender, showing what was reviewed for this selection
- ›Attributable — it names who made the decision and on what criteria
- ›Tamper-evident — a record you could quietly edit after a loss is worth little; one that provably couldn't be altered is evidence
Vetting once isn't enough
A carrier you cleared last month can go bad tomorrow — authority revoked, insurance lapsed, an out-of-service order. Because the standard is ongoing reasonableness, a one-time check is weaker than continuous diligence. Re-checking the federal record and keeping the file current as things change is what turns "we vetted them once" into "we exercised ordinary care throughout."
None of this has to be heavy. The point isn't more paperwork — it's that the checks you already do leave a dated, defensible trail automatically, so the record exists before you ever need it.
Frequently asked questions
What should a broker document when vetting a carrier?
The FMCSA authority and status checked, safety data reviewed (safety rating, inspection and out-of-service history, BASIC scores, authority age, crash history), insurance verified, the criteria applied, who approved the carrier, and any red flags with the rationale for proceeding — all recorded at the time of the decision.
How do I document carrier vetting to prove due diligence?
Capture a dated record at the moment of each decision: the live FMCSA data you reviewed, the insurance you verified and how, the criteria you applied, who approved, and any red flags with your rationale. Make it load-specific and tamper-evident. That contemporaneous trail — not a policy manual or after-the-fact summary — is what proves due diligence in a negligent-selection case.
Why does the timing of the documentation matter?
Because the legal standard is whether the broker acted reasonably at the time of selection. A record created contemporaneously with the hiring is credible evidence of ordinary care; one reconstructed years later from memory after a lawsuit is not. Transportation lawyers consistently stress demonstrating diligence contemporaneously rather than reconstructing it in litigation.
Is a certificate of insurance enough for the file?
No. A COI shows coverage on its issue date and can even be forged — the FMCSA warns that certificates can be fraudulent. A defensible file records that coverage was verified against the insurer or the carrier's federal filing, and notes the certificate's expiration, rather than relying on the document alone.
How does a defensible file help after the Montgomery ruling?
Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC (U.S. May 14, 2026) allows state-law negligent-selection claims against brokers. A contemporaneous, attributable, tamper-evident record of what you reviewed and why you proceeded is your evidence that you exercised ordinary care in selecting the carrier — the core of the defense.
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