Supreme Court, in case involving TQL, again declines to review broker liability

The Supreme Court, for the third time, has chosen not to take up the issue of broker liability, leaving the issue with conflicting precedents in the federal courts.

In a decision handed down Monday with no comment – which is traditional – the court denied review in the case of Gauthier vs. TQL.

In that case, Katia Gauthier, the widow of a man killed on a Georgia road in an accident with a truck hauling a load for the giant 3PL, filed suit against TQL. But both a lower federal court and an appeals court held that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A) protected TQL.

Gauthier asked the Supreme Court to review the case. And in an unusual twist, so did TQL, even though it had been victorious two times.

In its request for certiorari, TQL said the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in its ruling protecting the 3PL. But with conflicting circuit decisions, TQL wrote in its request that “the question presented is one of considerable importance to the transportation industry. “

The lack of a clear standard, TQL wrote, “not only imposes significant costs on respondents and other freight brokers but …

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