What I Learned at the TIA Regional Meeting: Carrier Vetting, Broker Liability, and the Fight Against Cargo Theft
Vetting High-Value Loads Is Getting More Sophisticated
The opening session focused on a simple truth: for high-value freight, checking a box on a compliance platform is no longer enough. Practical vetting steps that came up included:
- Confirming the VIN. Getting a photo of the VIN to verify the truck is actually listed on the carrier’s auto policy.
- Cross-checking geography. Comparing the states a carrier is showing activity in against what they’ve told you.
- Counting the trucks. Validating the fleet size they claim to operate.
These are the kinds of checks that separate a carrier who exists on paper from one that’s actually running freight on the road.
The Trouble with Safety Scores
There was a useful history lesson on carrier safety data. BASIC scores launched in 2010, but by 2015 Congress passed the FAST Act declaring those scores were not a reliable indicator of crash likelihood, and they were removed from public view. Providers like SaferWatch still mimic those scores based on a carrier’s record.
An important distinction emerged: there are carrier monitoring services and there are carrier grading services, and many of them call their methodology proprietary. The attorney from SPG raised a sharp point for depositions: a broker can reasonably say, “We are not experts on carrier safety records, but we rely on a company that purports to be an expert, so you should depose them.” In other words, know where your reliance sits, and be ready to defend it.
Broker Liability: Lessons from the Courtroom
Some of the most valuable discussion centered on how brokers get exposed in litigation.
The group discussed the Lipe v. Lupus Superior case, worth looking up. The key question was whether the jury was given information the broker didn’t actually have at the time of booking. There were also elements of vicarious liability. In a related thread, the question of whether CH Robinson had assumed the role of a motor carrier came up, and the answer was no. But the driver was found to be a borrowed employee, and that driver had disconnected from his ELD and driven 600 miles out of route.
Several practical guardrails came out of this conversation:
- Watch your rate confirmations. Penalizing carriers directly on a rate con can suggest driver control, exactly what you don’t want to imply.
- Pass through, don’t penalize. In the broker-carrier agreement, you can state that if the shipper deducts from you for late fees or cargo theft, that fee gets passed through. Reference that contract in the rate con rather than assessing unilateral penalties.
- Timing matters. Assess any penalties after the load delivers, never while the truck is in transit. Keep it out of the rate con entirely.
- Don’t cap indemnity at insurance limits. In the broker-carrier agreement, the indemnity limit shouldn’t be tied to the carrier’s insurance amount.
- Clarify control. Contracts and rate confirmations should state that routing and directions are for informational purposes only, and that driver direction and control ultimately rests with the motor carrier.
The Economics of Litigation
Christy offered a candid look at how these cases actually play out. Plaintiff’s attorneys frequently go straight for the insurance limit and settle there. ATRI released a paper on the volume of trucking accidents, though it didn’t isolate those involving brokers.
The numbers are sobering: only a small percentage of cases go to trial, but of those, roughly two-thirds are decided for the plaintiff. Interestingly, your odds are slightly better in federal court than in state court. And when attorneys come after a broker, they’ve usually already collected a million from the carrier. If there’s a larger broker behind the deal or visible assets inside the broker, they’re more likely to pursue it. Smaller brokers with limited listed assets tend to see attorneys settle for policy limits.
Verifying the Driver at Pickup
A recurring theme: vetting doesn’t end at booking. At the point of pickup, the question is whether the driver is the right driver, driving for the right company, and not someone borrowed from another operation. This is driver identification more than driver verification, and it’s a gap many brokers overlook.
Cargo Theft: Technology Helps, But Don't Lean on It
The second session tackled cargo theft head-on. A new tool called Verified Pickup is emerging to verify drivers at pickup, and Highway is releasing one of its own.
But the strongest caution of the day was this: the industry leans too heavily on technology. Teams buy the tech and drift away from the human touch, and so many thefts happen when there are no red flags on the carrier at all.
What to Do When a Theft Happens
The session closed with a practical playbook:
- Call law enforcement, and frame it right. Report it as a theft in progress. Police aren’t as interested in something that’s already gone. Jurisdiction sits where the freight went missing.
- Know your industry resources. Have contacts like CargoNet and GenLogs ready. There are only five or six investigators across the country who are truly excellent at cargo theft, so keep their phone numbers handy.
- Test your plan. Twice a year, walk in and pretend there’s a cargo theft to see if your plan holds up. Do it once during business hours and once on a Saturday. Danielle has a walkthrough checklist for exactly this.
- Understand how thieves have changed. They used to grab everything. Now they target high-value items and steal less volume. Many shippers don’t inspect anything when loading a carrier out, so build the relationship to understand what they’re actually checking.
Final Thoughts
The through-line across both sessions was clear: protect yourself with documentation, contracts, and process, but never let technology replace human judgment. The brokers who stay out of trouble are the ones who verify what’s real on the road, structure their agreements carefully, and treat cargo theft preparedness as an ongoing drill rather than a one-time policy.
At LYNC, we’ve been following a lot of these protocols since we started. Our carrier vetting process was designed to keep all parties safe, so book your next load with us.
