Carter v. Khayrullaev
| Decision Date | 17 October 2022 |
| Docket Number | 4:20-cv-00670-AGF |
| Parties | THOMAS CARTER, Plaintiff, v. KHAYRULLAEV, et. al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Plaintiff Thomas Carter brings this case on behalf of himself individually, and on behalf of the estate of Margaret Carter who died when a commercial motor vehicle collided with her car on September 17, 2017. (Doc. No. 1, Exh. 3). General Electric (“GE”) arranged for Defendant Landstar Ranger, Inc. (“Landstar”) to transport a bake oven. Landstar hired Defendant American Power Transportation (“APT”) to carry the commercial load. APT contracted with Defendant MGI Express, LLC (“MGI”) to lease one of MGI's trucks to haul the load. (Doc. No. 81 at 2). MGI then hired Defendant Zukriddin Khayrullaev to drive the commercial vehicle. Id. at 1. On the day of the collision, Khayrullaev was driving westbound on Interstate 44 when he lost control of the tractor trailer of MGI's vehicle, entered the eastbound lane of the interstate, and struck Ms. Carter's vehicle. Id.
Plaintiff brings five claims against Defendants related to this incident. At issue in this order are Count II, for negligence and negligence per se against APT, MGI, and Landstar; and Count V, for negligent entrustment against Landstar. (Doc. No. 1, Exh. 3).
Landstar has moved for summary judgment on Count II, asserting that there are no grounds for vicarious liability, and on Count V of Plaintiff's complaint, asserting preemption and that the facts do not support the claim that Landstar negligently selected APT. (Doc. No. 67). For the reasons outlined below the Court will grant in part and deny in part the motion.
Construing in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the record supports the following facts. On September 17, 2017, Khayrullaev lost control of a tractor-trailer attached to a commercial motor vehicle he drove on behalf of APT. (Doc. No. 81 at 1). When Khayrullaev lost control, he crossed over the yellow dividing line on the portion of Interstate 44 on which he was driving and struck Ms. Carter's vehicle. Id. Ms. Carter died as a result of the accident.
Landstar entered into a Transportation Brokerage Agreement (the “Agreement”) with APT approximately four years prior to the accident. (Doc. No. 81 at 3). The Agreement provides that APT is “wholly responsible for the contemplated transportation and for all costs and expenses of such transportation.” Id. at 4. These costs include furnishing all necessary equipment, and utilizing “only competent, able, and legally licensed and qualified personnel.” Id. However Landstar's Load Confirmation Form (the “Form”) is also incorporated into the Agreement by reference. Id. The Form requires that APT drivers: (i) download the Landstar Connect Tracking System, (ii) be in contact with Landstar for “check calls” at all hours, (iii) use a certain type of truck, (iv) secure their load in a particular manner, (v) pick up the load at a specific time, and (vi) wear a Landstar uniform. Id.
At the time Landstar and APT entered into the Agreement, Landstar's policies included a 2011 “Landstar Uniform Policy for Qualification of Third-party Motor Carriers.” (Doc. No. 81 at 29). These policies required that Landstar examine a company applying to be a carrier for a safety rating from the Department of Transportation. Id. at 30. If the company was not rated, Landstar would then examine the company's Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories scores (“BASIC”) scores. Id. If the company fell within a sixty-five to eighty range in the categories of unsafe driving or fatigued driving, or if the driver fell within the eighty to ninety-five range in the categories of driver fitness, controlled substance use, and vehicle maintenance, Landstar would not approve the carrier. Id. If a company lacked both a rating and safety information, Landstar could not approve the company as a carrier. Id. at 31. When Landstar first approved APT as a carrier in 2013, APT was a new carrier and lacked a safety rating from the DOT, and no Landstar employee conducted an analysis to determine APT's BASIC scores. (Doc. No. 67, Exh. E at 70:3; 71:5-23).
Landstar also required that all “outside” carriers, like APT, engage in an annual requalification or review. (Doc. No. 81 at 31). This review examined safety ratings and BASIC scores. Id. However, between 2014 and 2017, no Landstar employee conducted a review for APT. Id. at 31-32.
As of 2014, Landstar reviewed its carriers' BASIC scores through a vendor called SaferWatch. (Doc. No. 68 at 14). The SaferWatch data for APT reveals that the company had an unsafe driving score in excess of the threshold ceiling in March 2015, on October 12th and 26th, 2016, and in March 2017. Id. at 32-33. However, Landstar neither reviewed APT's scores nor disqualified APT for unsafe driving, as otherwise required by Landstar's policies. Id.
Only two claims in Plaintiff's complaint relate to Landstar: (i) Count II, for negligence and negligence per se; and (ii) Count V, for negligent entrustment. (Doc. No. 1, Exh. 3). As to Count II, Landstar also asserts that it cannot be held vicariously liable for Khayrullaev's negligence because it did not engage in a joint venture with APT, and also, because it did not exercise sufficient control over Khayrullaev's work to establish a master-servant relationship between the two of them. (Doc. No. 68 at 9). Plaintiff concedes the argument with respect to any joint venture.
As to Count V, Landstar alleges that Missouri negligence law is expressly preempted by 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1), which Congress intended to deregulate interstate shipping. (Doc. No. 68 at 4). Plaintiff claims in response that 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(2)(A) carves out an exception for states to regulate the safety of portions of the interstate in their territory, and that this exception applies to protect Missouri negligence laws. (Doc. No. 82 at 4). Landstar also claims that it did not negligently entrust Khayrullaev with the tractor-trailer at issue in the accident. (Doc. No. 68 at 14). APT and MGI provided Khayrullaev with the tractor-trailer, and Landstar is only liable for that decision to the extent that it is liable for APT's actions. Id. Landstar therefore argues that it did not negligently select or hire APT, and that, in the alternative, its negligent selection of APT as a carrier did not proximately cause the accident. Plaintiff responds that Landstar negligently selected a carrier whose driving record fell below Landstar's threshold requirements, and that this selection contributed to the cause of the collision. (Doc. No. 82 at 12-15).
Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). “[T]he burden of demonstrating there are no genuine issues of material fact rests on the moving party, and we review the evidence and the inferences which reasonably may be drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Allard v. Baldwin, 779 F.3d 768, 771 (8th Cir. 2015). To avoid summary judgment, the nonmovant has the “burden of presenting evidence sufficiently supporting the disputed material facts that a reasonable jury could return a verdict in their favor.” Gregory v. City of Rogers, Ark., 974 F.2d 1006, 1010 (8th Cir. 1992). “Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Landstar first asserts that Plaintiff's claim for negligent entrustment is preempted by 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1) (the “FAAA”). (Doc. No. 68 at 4). The doctrine of preemption “derives from the Constitution's Supremacy clause, which states that laws of the United States made pursuant to the Constitution are the ‘supreme Law of the Land.'” Wuebker v. Wilbur-Ellis Co., 418 F.3d 883, 886 (8th Cir. 2005) (quoting U.S. CONST. ART. VI., cl. 2). This case raises an issue of express preemption, which occurs when a federal law explicitly prohibits state regulation in a certain field. See Mo. Brd. Of Examiners v. Hearing Help Express, Inc., 447 F.3d 1033, 1035 (8th Cir. 2006). Congress enacted the FAAA in order to preempt state trucking regulations, thus avoiding a “patchwork of state service-determining laws, rules, and regulations” which would place a heavy economic burden on the trucking industry. Dan's City Used Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey, 569 U.S. 251, 264 (2013) (citing Rowe v. N.W. Transp. Ass'n, 552 U.S. 364, 373 (2008)). The relevant portion of the FAAA provides:
[A] State.. .may not enact or enforce a law, regulation, or other provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier.. .or any motor private carrier, broker, or freight forwarder with respect to the transportation of property.
49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1).
The Supreme Court has broadly interpreted the phrase “relating to” in the FAAA as “encompassing all state laws having any connection with or reference to the carrier's rates, routes, or services.” See Data Mfg., Inc. v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 557 F.3d 849 852 (8th Cir. 2009) (internal citation omitted). This preemption includes not only laws established by statute, but also those established by common-law, such as negligent brokering. See Uhrhan v. B&B Cargo, Inc., No. 4:17-cv-02720-JAR, 2020 WL 4501104, at *3 (E.D. Mo. Aug. 5, 2020) (internal citations omitted). Howe...
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