Aspen American Insurance Company v. Landstar Ranger, Inc. ( 2023 )

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[PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 22-10740
____________________
ASPEN AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY,
Tessco Technologies Inc.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
LANDSTAR RANGER, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 3:21-cv-00578-BJD-LLL
____________________
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2 Opinion of the Court 22-10740
Before WILSON, JORDAN, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
BRASHER, Circuit Judge:
In this appeal, we must decide whether the express preemp-
tion provision of the Federal Aviation Administration Authoriza-
tion Act (“FAAAA”) bars Florida negligence claims against a trans-
portation broker based on the broker’s selection of a motor carrier
and, if it does, whether the Act’s “safety exception” allows those
claims to proceed. See 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1)–(2).
Tessco Technologies Inc. hired Landstar Ranger, Inc. as a
transportation broker to secure a motor carrier to transport an ex-
pensive load of Tessco’s cargo to a purchaser across state lines. But
Landstar mistakenly turned the shipment over to a thief posing as
a Landstar-registered carrier, who ran off with Tessco’s shipment.
Tessco’s insurer, Aspen American Insurance Company, sued Land-
star, claiming Landstar was negligent under Florida law in its selec-
tion of the carrier.
The district court dismissed Aspen’s negligence claims
against Landstar, concluding those claims were expressly
preempted by the FAAAA, which bars state-law claims “related to
a price, route, or service of any motor carrier . . . , broker, or freight
forwarder with respect to the transportation of property.” Id.§ 14501(c)(1). The court also determined that the statute’s safety
exception—which states that the preemption provision “shall not
restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to
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22-10740 Opinion of the Court 3
motor vehicles,” id. § 14501(c)(2)—was inapplicable to negligence
claims against a broker based on stolen goods. We affirm.
I.
The domestic trucking industry consists of several players,
including the shipper, the broker, and the motor carrier. The ship-
per is the “person who . . . owns the goods being transported”—
like a manufacturer, retailer, or distributor. See 49 U.S.C.
§ 13102(13) (defining “individual shipper”). The motor carrier is the
truck driver—the person who transports the goods from the ship-
per to the purchaser. See id. § 13102(14) (defining “motor carrier”).
The broker is the person who connects the shipper and carrier; he
acts as the middleman between the two to arrange for the trans-
portation of the shipper’s goods by the carrier by, for instance, ne-
gotiating rates and routes. See id. § 13102(2) (defining “broker”); 49
C.F.R. § 371.2(a) (same).
The following facts come from Aspen’s complaint. In this
appeal from a dismissal for failure to state a claim, we accept these
factual allegations as true and construe them in the light most fa-
vorable to Aspen. Newbauer v. Carnival Corp., 26 F.4th 931, 934
(11th Cir. 2022). Landstar Ranger, Inc. is a transportation broker.
To provide motor-carrier services to Landstar’s shippers, carriers
must register with Landstar and submit bids through its online sys-
tem. As part of the registration process, carriers create an online
profile, where they input company information such as the car-
rier’s physical address, point of contact, email address, and phone
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4 Opinion of the Court 22-10740
number. Landstar’s “protocol” when dispatching a shipment to a
carrier is to verify that the carrier’s company information matches
the data in Landstar’s online system.
One shipper, Tessco Technologies, Inc., hired Landstar to
arrange the transportation of an expensive shipment of cargo (val-
ued at over half a million dollars) from Colorado to Maryland.
Landstar selected L&P Transportation LLC to transport Tessco’s
shipment. L&P was a Landstar-registered carrier, and its online
profile included detailed company information.
But Landstar did not follow its usual carrier-verification pro-
tocols when dispatching Tessco’s shipment. When it came time for
Landstar to turn the shipment over to L&P for transport, Landstar
received a call from someone named “James” claiming to represent
L&P and attempting to collect the scheduled shipment. Despite no-
ticing discrepancies between the company information provided
by “James” and that listed for L&P in Landstar’s system, Landstar
dispatched Tessco’s shipment to James. Unsurprisingly, James was
a fraud, and he stole Tessco’s cargo.
Tessco filed a claim with its insurance provider, Aspen
American Insurance Company, to recover the cost of the cargo.
Aspen paid the claim and sued Landstar in the Middle District of
Florida, seeking damages caused by Landstar’s allegedly negligent
selection of a motor carrier. Aspen alleges that Landstar breached
its duty as a transportation broker “to retain a reputable motor car-
rier” to transport Tessco’s shipment by “ignoring its own protocols
and the information readily available in its system” and was thus
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either “grossly negligent” or “negligent” in its selection of the car-
rier.
The district court dismissed Aspen’s suit as expressly
preempted by the FAAAA, 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1). And it rejected
Aspen’s argument that the statute’s so-called “safety exception,” id.§ 14501(c)(2), shielded Aspen’s negligence claims from preemption.
Aspen appealed.
II.
We review a district court’s dismissal on federal preemption
grounds de novo. Lawson-Ross v. Great Lakes Higher Educ. Corp.,
955 F.3d 908, 915 (11th Cir. 2020).
III.
The FAAAA’s express preemption provision provides, in rel-
evant part, that “States may not enact or enforce a law . . . related
to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier . . . , broker, or
freight forwarder with respect to the transportation of property.”
49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1). But the Act also contains certain exceptions
to its preemptive scope. Relevant here is the statute’s safety excep-
tion, which states that the preemption provision “shall not restrict
the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect to motor ve-
hicles.” Id. § 14501(c)(2). On appeal, Aspen argues that its negli-
gence claims do not fall within the FAAAA’s preemption provision
and that, even if they do, they may nonetheless proceed because
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they fall within the Act’s safety exception. We address these argu-
ments in turn.
A.
We start with the scope of the FAAAA’s preemption provi-
sion. The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution
preempts—that is, invalidates—state laws that “interfere with, or
are contrary to” federal law. Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.)
1, 211 (1824). We recognize three types of federal preemption: ex-
press preemption, field preemption, and conflict preemption.1
Marrache v. Bacardi U.S.A., Inc., 17 F.4th 1084, 1094 (11th Cir.
2021). Express preemption, the only category at issue here, occurs
when Congress displaces state law “by so stating in express terms.”
Taylor v. Polhill, 964 F.3d 975, 981 (11th Cir. 2020) (quoting Hills-
borough County v. Automated Med. Lab’ys, Inc., 471 U.S. 707, 713
(1985)). In such a case, “the task of statutory construction must in
the first instance focus on the plain wording of the clause, which
necessarily contains the best evidence of Congress’ pre-emptive in-
tent.” CSX Transp., Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658, 664 (1993).
1 The district court mentioned the “complete preemption” doctrine as poten-
tially relevant. That doctrine allows a defendant to remove a case to federal
court on the ground that a preemption defense creates federal question juris-
diction. Gables Ins. Recovery, Inc. v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Fla., Inc., 813
F.3d 1333, 1337 (11th Cir. 2015). Because we have federal jurisdiction in this
case because of the parties’ diverse citizenship, we take no position on whether
the FAAAA satisfies the standard for complete preemption.
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Turning to the text of the statute, the FAAAA expressly bars
states from “enact[ing] or enforc[ing] a law, regulation, or other
provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route,
or service of any motor carrier . . . , broker, or freight forwarder
with respect to the transportation of property.” 49 U.S.C.
§ 14501(c)(1). There is no dispute that Aspen’s state-law negligence
claims seek to enforce a “provision having the force and effect of
law” subject to FAAAA preemption. See Nw., Inc. v. Ginsberg, 572
U.S. 273, 281–84 (2014) (holding “that the phrase ‘other provision
having the force and effect of law’ includes common-law claims”).
The parties also agree that Landstar is a “broker” as the FAAAA
defines it. See 49 U.S.C. § 13102(2); accord 49 C.F.R. § 371.2(a). And
Landstar does not suggest that Aspen’s negligence claims relate to
the “price” or “route” of a broker, arguing only that those claims
relate to a broker’s “service.” See 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1).
With those preliminaries out of the way, the relevant inter-
pretive question becomes whether Aspen’s Florida negligence
claims are “related to a . . . service of any . . . broker . . . with respect
to the transportation of property.” Id. Considering the phrase “re-
lated to,” the Supreme Court has stressed that “[t]he ordinary
meaning of these words is a broad one . . . and the words thus ex-
press a broad pre-emptive purpose.” Morales v. Trans World Air-
lines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374, 383 (1992) (interpreting the preemption
provision of the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), 49 U.S.C. §
1305(a)(1)); see Rowe v. N.H. Motor Transp. Ass’n, 552 U.S. 364,
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370 (2008) (following Morales in interpreting the FAAAA).2 Con-
sistent with the statute’s breadth, the Court held that a state law is
“related to” rates, routes, or services if the law has “a connection
with, or reference to” them. Rowe, 552 U.S. at 370 (quoting Mo-
rales, 504 U.S. at 384) (emphasis omitted). Even if the connection
“is only indirect,” preemption will follow, so long as the connec-
tion is not “too tenuous, remote, or peripheral.” Id. at 370, 375
(quoting Morales, 504 U.S. at 386, 390); cf. Morales, 504 U.S. at 390(holding that the Airline Deregulation Act preempts states from
regulating how airlines advertise prices but suggesting state laws
forbidding “gambling and prostitution” would survive because
“the connection [to airline rates] would obviously be far more ten-
uous”).
To be sure, the FAAAA’s preemption provision does contain
a caveat that “massively limits the scope of preemption”: the stat-
ute will not bar state-law claims that relate to a broker’s services
2 When Congress sought to preempt state trucking laws as part of its ongoing
effort to deregulate the trucking industry, it borrowed language from the
ADA’s preemption provision. Rowe, 552 U.S. at 368. The only language
unique to the FAAAA’s preemption clause when compared to the ADA’s is
the phrase “with respect to the transportation of property.” Dan’s City Used
Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey, 569 U.S. 251, 256 (2013). “And when judicial interpreta-
tions have settled the meaning of an existing statutory provision, repetition of
the same language in a new statute indicates, as a general matter, the intent to
incorporate its judicial interpretations as well.” Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner
& Smith Inc. v. Dabit, 547 U.S. 71, 85 (2006) (cleaned up). So, we look to cases
interpreting similar language in the ADA to help guide our analysis of the
FAAAA’s preemption provision here.
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“in any capacity”—only those services that are “with respect to the
transportation of property.” Dan’s City Used Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey,
569 U.S. 251, 261 (2013); 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1). But this limiting
language poses no obstacle to preemption here because the text of
the FAAAA makes plain that Aspen’s negligence claims relate to a
broker’s services with respect to the transportation of property.
The Act defines “transportation” to include “services related to”
“the movement of . . . property,” “including arranging for, receipt,
delivery, elevation, transfer in transit, . . . and interchange of . . .
property.” 49 U.S.C. § 13102(23) (emphasis added). And a “broker”
is one who “sells, offers for sale, negotiates for, or holds itself out
by solicitation, advertisement, or otherwise as selling, providing,
or arranging for, transportation by motor carrier for compensa-
tion.” Id. § 13102(2) (emphasis added); accord 49 C.F.R. § 371.2(a)
(“Broker means a person who, for compensation, arranges, or of-
fers to arrange, the transportation of property by an authorized
motor carrier.”). The Act’s implementing regulations further de-
fine “brokerage service” as “the arranging of transportation . . . of
a motor vehicle or of property . . . on behalf of a motor carrier.” 49
C.F.R. § 371.2(c) (emphasis added).
The FAAAA and its implementing regulations thus define
the “service” of a “broker” covered by the statute as arranging for
the transportation of property by a motor carrier. A “core” part of
this transportation-preparation service is, of course, selecting the
motor carrier who will do the transporting. E.g., Miller v. C.H.
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Robinson Worldwide, Inc., 976 F.3d 1016, 1024 (9th Cir. 2020). In-
deed, Aspen itself acknowledges that “the broker has but a single
job – to select a reputable carrier for the transportation of the ship-
ment. That’s all.” And this is precisely the brokerage service that
Aspen’s negligence claims challenge—Landstar’s allegedly inade-
quate selection of a motor carrier to transport Tessco’s shipment.
Accordingly, these claims have “a connection with or reference to”
the service of a broker with respect to the transportation of prop-
erty. Morales, 504 U.S. at 384.
We realize that some district courts have held claims like As-
pen’s to be outside the scope of FAAAA preemption on the ground
that such claims “are generally applicable state common law causes
of action” that “are not targeted or directed at the trucking indus-
try.” E.g., Nyswaner v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., 353 F.
Supp. 3d 892, 896 (D. Ariz. 2019). But those decisions are incom-
patible with Morales, where the Supreme Court rejected this very
line of reasoning in interpreting the similar language of the Airline
Deregulation Act. See 504 U.S. at 386. In holding that the ADA’s
preemption clause barred states from using their general consumer
protection statutes to challenge deceptive airfare advertising, the
Court rejected the argument that the ADA preempts only “state
laws specifically addressed to the airline industry,” not “laws of
general applicability.” Id. Such an interpretation, the Court rea-
soned, would read the broad phrase “relating to” out of the statute
entirely. Id. The same reasoning applies to the FAAAA. “Had the
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statute been designed to pre-empt state law in such a limited fash-
ion,” Congress would have worded it differently. Id. at 385.
To be sure, the FAAAA does not preempt “general” state
laws (like “a prohibition on smoking in certain public places”) that
regulate brokers “only in their capacity as members of the public.”
Rowe, 552 U.S. at 375. But Aspen’s negligence claims do no such
thing. They do not present us with the “general” universe of com-
mon-law tort claims that could arise within the domestic supply
chain. They assert specific allegations of negligence and gross neg-
ligence against a transportation broker for its selection of a motor
carrier to transport property in interstate commerce. This applica-
tion of the negligence standard would regulate brokers, not “in
their capacity as members of the public,” but in the performance of
their core transportation-related services. Id. Consequently, the
FAAAA expressly preempts Aspen’s claims unless they fall within
one of the Act’s preemption exceptions.
B.
We now consider whether an exception to the preemption
statute saves Aspen’s claims. Aspen’s backup argument for reversal
is the FAAAA’s so-called “safety exception.” That provision pro-
vides, in relevant part, that the FAAAA’s preemption clause “shall
not restrict the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect
to motor vehicles.” 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A). According to Aspen,
its claims against a broker based on negligent selection of a motor
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carrier fall within this provision and are thus exempt from preemp-
tion. We disagree. For Aspen’s claims to fall within the safety ex-
ception, (1) the negligence standard must constitute an exercise of
Florida’s “safety regulatory authority,” and (2) that authority must
have been exercised “with respect to motor vehicles.” Id. Although
Aspen’s claims satisfy the first requirement, they do not satisfy the
second.
1.
We agree with Aspen that the negligence standard it seeks
to enforce is “genuinely responsive to safety concerns” and thus
within Florida’s “safety regulatory authority.” The Supreme Court
has explained that a law is within “the safety regulatory authority
of a State” only if the law is “genuinely responsive to safety con-
cerns.” City of Columbus v. Ours Garage & Wrecker Serv., Inc.,
536 U.S. 424, 442 (2002). Although “[t]he Court expressed no opin-
ion as to the scope of [state and] local regulations that are indeed
‘genuinely responsive’ to public safety concerns,” Galactic Towing,
Inc. v. City of Miami Beach, 341 F.3d 1249, 1251 (11th Cir. 2003),
the Court reasoned that the exception’s “clear purpose” is to ensure
that the preemption provision does not encroach upon “the preex-
isting and traditional state police power over safety,” Ours Garage,
536 U.S. at 439.
Landstar argues that the Florida negligence standard is not
sufficiently related to safety because Aspen’s claims seek damages
for property loss instead of bodily injury. The district court, too,
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distinguished cases holding the exception applicable to negligent-
carrier-selection claims arising out of personal injuries sustained
during transit. See, e.g., Miller, 976 F.3d at 1030–31 (holding negli-
gent-selection claims against brokers stemming from motor vehi-
cle accidents satisfy the safety exception); Lopez v. Amazon Logis-
tics, Inc., 458 F. Supp. 3d 505, 515 (N.D. Tex. 2020) (holding “that
personal injury tort claims, including a negligent-hiring claim, are
within the scope of section 14501(c)(2)’s exception”).
But it makes little sense for the safety exception to turn on
whether a plaintiff seeks damages for property loss or bodily in-
jury—the common law negligence standard is the same no matter
the damages a breach has caused. Aspen simply alleges that,“[a]s a
transportation broker,” Landstar “owed a duty” to Tessco “to re-
tain a reputable motor carrier for the transportation of the subject
shipment”; Landstar breached this duty by “ignoring its own pro-
tocols and the information readily available in its system” in select-
ing the carrier; and “[a]s a direct result,” Aspen “was damaged.” It
is Landstar’s alleged unreasonableness in selecting a carrier to
transport Tessco’s shipment that Aspen claims violates Florida law,
irrespective of the type of damages Aspen sustained as a result.
Moreover, we see no basis to conclude, as Landstar seems
to suggest, that tort actions for property damage under Florida law
are categorically divorced from safety concerns. Take products lia-
bility actions, “[t]he fundamental purpose” of which “is to further
public safety in the use of consumer goods.” Porter v. Rosenberg,
650 So. 2d 79, 81 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995). A cognizable injury in
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such an action is not limited to personal injury; a plaintiff may also
bring a products liability action in Florida if a defendant’s unsafe
product damages the plaintiff’s property. West v. Caterpillar Trac-
tor Co., 336 So. 2d 80, 87 (Fla. 1976) (citing Restatement (Second)
of Torts § 402A (Am. L. Inst. 1965)). Safety concerns thus clearly
animate some tort standards, even if a breach of those standards
leads only to property loss instead of bodily injury.
In fact, safety concerns animate the very sort of tort action
that Aspen asserts here. The allegations in Aspen’s complaint, we
realize, do not specify any subspecies of Florida negligence law that
Aspen contends subjects Landstar to liability in this case. Nor was
it required to. See Skinner v. Switzer, 562 U.S. 521, 530 (2011)
(“[U]nder the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint need
not pin plaintiff’s claim for relief to a precise legal theory.”). But
Aspen’s allegations are comparable to those underlying claims like
negligent hiring, negligent selection, and negligent entrustment of
a dangerous instrumentality, each of which is premised on public
safety concerns under Florida law. In a negligent-hiring claim
against an employer based on injury caused by an employee, for
instance, “the ultimate question of liability to be decided is whether
it was reasonable for the employer to permit the employee to per-
form his job in the light of information about him which the em-
ployer should have known.” Tallahassee Furniture Co. v. Harrison,
583 So. 2d 744, 751 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991). And Florida courts
have described the employer’s duty in such an action as “a duty to
exercise reasonable care in hiring and retaining safe and competent
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employees.” Garcia v. Duffy, 492 So. 2d 435, 439 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App.
1986). Florida law also recognizes an action for “negligent selection
of an independent contractor,” which may be brought against a
principal who “fail[s] to exercise reasonable care to employ a com-
petent and careful contractor.” Davies v. Com. Metals Co., 46 So.
3d 71, 73 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2010) (quoting Suarez v. Gonzalez, 820
So. 2d 342, 345 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2002)). Finally, Florida’s “dan-
gerous instrumentality doctrine” reflects a special safety concern
with those who negligently place unfit drivers on the road. “Under
that long-established doctrine, liability is imposed on the owner of
an automobile who voluntarily entrusts the vehicle to an individual
who causes damage to others through the negligent operation of
the vehicle.” Chandler v. Geico Indem. Co., 78 So. 3d 1293, 1296
(Fla. 2011).
Accordingly, the relevant question for our purposes is
whether Florida’s common law negligence standard, which allows
claims against a broker based on negligent selection of a carrier, is
“genuinely responsive to safety concerns” and thus within Florida’s
“safety regulatory authority.” Our review of Florida negligence law
convinces us that it is. Cf. Galactic Towing, 341 F.3d at 1251–53
(holding that a city towing ordinance declaring that “the unauthor-
ized parking of vehicles that cannot be removed constitutes a pub-
lic nuisance and public emergency effecting the property, public
safety and welfare of the citizens” is within the state’s safety regu-
latory authority). In reaching this conclusion, we express no opin-
ion on whether the allegations in Aspen’s complaint suffice to state
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16 Opinion of the Court 22-10740
a claim under Florida law. Nor do we suggest that all of Florida
negligence law reflects a genuine safety concern as opposed to, for
instance, an interest in cost-spreading. See Jews For Jesus, Inc. v.
Rapp, 997 So. 2d 1098, 1105 (Fla. 2008) (expressing “the view that
the primary purpose of tort law is that wronged persons should be
compensated for their injuries and that those responsible for the
wrong should bear the cost of their tortious conduct”) (cleaned up).
We hold only that Aspen’s particular claims seek to enforce a stand-
ard that is “genuinely responsive to safety concerns” and thus
within Florida’s “safety regulatory authority” under 49 U.S.C.
§ 14501(c)(2)(A).
2.
That Aspen’s state-law claims seek to enforce a standard that
is within “the safety regulatory authority of a state” is necessary,
but not sufficient, to sidestep FAAAA preemption. That standard
must also be “with respect to motor vehicles.” And, here, we agree
with Landstar that it is not.
Neither we nor the Supreme Court has ever squarely inter-
preted this language in the FAAAA. The Supreme Court has previ-
ously “interpreted ‘with respect to’ in a statute to mean ‘direct re-
lation to, or impact on.’” In re Appling, 848 F.3d 953, 958 (11th Cir.
2017) (quoting Presley v. Etowah Cnty. Comm’n, 502 U.S. 491, 506
(1992)) (emphasis added)), aff’d, Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v.
Appling, 138 S. Ct. 1752, 1761 (2018) (holding “that a statement is
‘respecting’ a debtor’s financial condition” under 11 U.S.C.
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§ 523(a)(2)(B) “if it has a direct relation to or impact on the debtor’s
overall financial status” (emphasis added)). Nonetheless, such
phrases can “ha[ve] different relevant meanings in different con-
texts.” See Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 563
U.S. 1, 7 (2011); cf. Patel v. Garland, 142 S. Ct. 1614, 1632 (2022)
(Gorsuch, J., dissenting) (“[T]he word [‘regarding’] can have either
a broadening or narrowing effect depending on context.”). Accord-
ingly, we must determine the ordinary meaning of “with respect to
motor vehicles” in the context of the FAAAA’s safety exception.
To determine a statute’s ordinary meaning, “we look to
many sources,” including “canons of interpretation” and the stat-
ute’s “context.” United States v. Bryant, 996 F.3d 1243, 1252 (11th
Cir. 2021). Having examined these sources, we believe that the
phrase “with respect to motor vehicles” limits the safety excep-
tion’s application to state laws that have a direct relationship to mo-
tor vehicles. This is so for three reasons.
First, as we have already explained, the Supreme Court has
determined that the phrase “with respect to the transportation of
property” in the statute’s immediately preceding subsection “mas-
sively limits” the scope of that provision. Pelkey, 569 U.S. at 261.
Given that reading, it only makes sense to read the similar phrase
“with respect to motor vehicles” as similarly limiting the scope of
the safety exception that follows. “It would be odd if, in two con-
secutive subsections of the Code, . . . the same words were read to
mean one thing in the first subsection but another in the second.”
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Hylton v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 992 F.3d 1154, 1159 (11th Cir. 2021). In-
stead, “[a]ll else being equal, we prefer a reading of the second that
coheres with binding precedent as to the first.” Id.; see Regions
Bank v. Legal Outsource PA, 936 F.3d 1184, 1192 (11th Cir. 2019)
(“[A] word or phrase is presumed to bear the same meaning
throughout a text . . . .” (quoting Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Gar-
ner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 170 (2012))).
Just as the phrase “with respect to the transportation of property”
“massively limits” the preemption provision, we read the phrase
“with respect to motor vehicles” to impose a meaningful limit on
the exception to the preemption provision.
Second, we can ensure that the phrase “with respect to mo-
tor vehicles” has an operative effect only by requiring a direct con-
nection between the state law and motor vehicles. The safety ex-
ception comes into play only when a state law is covered by the
preemption provision because that law is “related to a price, route,
or service of any motor carrier . . . , broker, or freight forwarder
with respect to the transportation of property.” 49 U.S.C.
§ 14501(c)(1). Of course, every state law that relates to the prices,
routes, or services of a motor carrier, broker who contracts with a
motor carrier, or freight forwarder who “uses . . . a [motor] car-
rier,” id. § 13102(8), will have at least an indirect relationship to mo-
tor vehicles—motor vehicles are how motor carriers move prop-
erty from one place to another. See id. § 13102(14). Accordingly, if
an indirect connection between a state law and a motor vehicle sat-
isfied the safety exception, then the phrase “with respect to motor
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22-10740 Opinion of the Court 19
vehicles” would have no meaningful operative effect. That inter-
pretation would thus violate the “basic premise of statutory con-
struction . . . that a statute is to be interpreted so that no words
shall be discarded as being meaningless, redundant, or mere sur-
plusage.” United States v. Canals-Jimenez, 943 F.2d 1284, 1287
(11th Cir. 1991).
Third, this reading leaves a separate field of operation for the
other exceptions in the statute. In addition to excluding from
preemption “the safety regulatory authority of a State with respect
to motor vehicles,” the statute also preserves “the authority of a
State to impose highway route controls or limitations based on the
size or weight of the motor vehicle or the hazardous nature of the
cargo.” 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A). If an indirect connection to mo-
tor vehicles made a state law “with respect to motor vehicles” for
the purposes of the safety exception, then Congress’s inclusion of a
separate exception to allow states to impose highway route con-
trols and cargo limits would almost certainly be redundant because
such controls and limits are indirectly related to motor vehicle
safety, too.
Accordingly, a mere indirect connection between state reg-
ulations and motor vehicles will not invoke the FAAAA’s safety ex-
ception. But we believe an indirect connection is all that exists be-
tween Aspen’s broker-negligence claims and motor vehicles. Once
again, a “broker” is “a person . . . that . . . sell[s], provid[es], or ar-
rang[es] for, transportation by motor carrier for compensation.” 49
U.S.C. § 13102(2). A “motor carrier,” in turn, is “a person providing
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20 Opinion of the Court 22-10740
motor vehicle transportation for compensation.” Id. § 13102(14).
And a “broker,” by definition, may not provide motor vehicle
transportation for compensation; only a “motor carrier” may per-
form that task. See id. § 13102(2) (A “broker” is “a person, other
than a motor carrier”) (emphasis added); 49 C.F.R. § 371.2(a) (“Mo-
tor carriers . . . are not brokers within the meaning of this section
when they arrange . . . the transportation of shipments which they
. . . have accepted . . . to transport.”). Finally, a “motor vehicle” is
“a vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer, or semitrailer propelled or
drawn by mechanical power and used on a highway in transporta-
tion.” Id. § 13102(16). In light of these definitions, a claim against a
broker is necessarily one step removed from a “motor vehicle” be-
cause the “definitions make clear that . . . a broker . . . and the ser-
vices it provides have no direct connection to motor vehicles.” Mil-
ler, 976 F.3d at 1031 (Fernandez, J., concurring in part and dissent-
ing in part).
The specifics of Aspen’s complaint make us even more con-
fident that Aspen’s claims are not “with respect to motor vehicles”
within the meaning of the safety exception. Aspen’s complaint says
nothing at all about motor vehicles. It explains how carriers register
with Landstar, Landstar’s protocol for verifying a carrier’s contact
information prior to dispatch, and how Landstar allegedly ne-
glected this protocol when dispatching Tessco’s shipment to
“James.” And Aspen’s negligence and gross negligence counts chal-
lenge only Landstar’s “selection of the motor carrier.” The com-
plaint does not purport to enforce any standard or regulation on
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22-10740 Opinion of the Court 21
the ownership, maintenance, or operation of “a vehicle, machine,
tractor, trailer, or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical
power and used on a highway in transportation,” 49 U.S.C.
§ 13102(16)—indeed, it doesn’t even specify whether James was
driving such a device when he absconded with the cargo. Such an
“attenuated connection” between Aspen’s claims and motor vehi-
cles “is simply too remote” to fall within the safety exception. Mil-
ler, 976 F.3d at 1031 (Fernandez, J., concurring in part and dissent-
ing in part); see Creagan v. Wal-Mart Transp., LLC, 354 F. Supp.
3d 808, 814 (N.D. Ohio 2018) (“Because the negligent hiring claim
seeks to impose a duty on the service of the broker rather than reg-
ulate motor vehicles . . . the exception does not apply”).
Aspen’s negligence claims are not “with respect to motor ve-
hicles” under the FAAAA’s safety exception. They are thus barred
by its express preemption provision.
IV.
The district court is AFFIRMED.
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22-10740 JORDAN, J., Concurring 1
JORDAN, Circuit Judge, concurring:
I join Parts I, II, III.A, III.B.2, and IV of Judge Brasher’s well-
written opinion, and concur in the judgment affirming the decision
of the district court.
Our determination in Part III.B.2 that the negligence claims
at issue are “not with respect to motor vehicles” dooms Aspen’s
reliance on 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2), the FAAAA’s safety exception.
In my view, it is therefore unnecessary to address in Part III.B.1
whether the negligence standard Aspen seeks to enforce is within
Florida’s “safety regulatory authority.”