California: Broker Liability

SUMMARY OF AMICUS BRIEF FILED 8/25/2014

On Aug. 25, 2014, as a friend of the court, TIDA filed an amicus letter in the California Supreme Court in support of trucking broker Kam-Way Transportation, Inc., who is seeking to overturn a decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, which denied Kam-Way’s petition for writ of mandate. The case is Kam-Way Transportation v. Superior Court of Kern County (Case No. F069684) (also known as Chavez v. Singh et al, Kern Superior Court Case No. S-1500-CV-277991). TIDA Member Donna Burden requested that TIDA support Kam-Way in the appeal.

The issue is this: where a trucking broker has no pre-existing duty to third parties for the conduct of an independent contractor/motor carrier that it arranges to have transport another company’s goods, whether the trucking broker can nonetheless still be held vicariously liable for the motor carrier’s negligent driving under the non-delegable duty doctrine. As the amicus letter states: ‘The trial court’s denial of summary judgment in this case is an unprecedented extension of the non-delegable duty doctrine. The trial court imposed a non-delegable duty on a trucking broker for the negligence of a motor carrier, who is an independent contractor. Without clarification of the limits of the non-delegable duty doctrine as applied to the trucking industry, the trial court’s decision may cause significant uncertainty regarding the allocation of certain risks in the transportation of goods.’ TIDA supports the petition in an effort to limit the liability of brokers in the movement of freight, particularly where brokers are unable to know whether the independent contractor/motor carrier is in compliance with the federal motor carrier safety regulations and catastrophic personal injuries are involved. The trial court’s order takes the general rule – that a party is not liable for the negligent acts of its independent contractor -- and allows it to be swallowed by its exceptions.

TIDA would like to thank Peg Toledo in Roseville, CA for authoring and filing the amicus letter on behalf of TIDA. When our TIDA attorney members in California were unable to assist for the effort, we were able to utilize the services of Ms. Toledo.  

DOWNLOAD THE AMICUS BRIEF