A chameleon carrier is a trucking company that reincarnates — shutting down under one name and reopening under another, with a fresh USDOT number but the same trucks and owners — to escape a bad safety record and federal enforcement. An April 2026 60 Minutes investigation exposed how widespread the practice has become. When one of these carriers causes a serious crash, the law of negligent entrustment and negligent hiring can reach the companies that put an unfit carrier or driver on the road. Combined with the Supreme Court's 2026 ruling allowing freight brokers to be sued for negligent selection, a single crash can support two solvent-defendant theories — an important path when the trucking company itself is judgment-proof or under-insured.
From the docket
Litigation Timeline
- May 14, 2026
Supreme Court lets brokers be sued — Montgomery v. Caribe Transportverdict
A unanimous Supreme Court holds in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC that the FAAAA does not preempt a state negligent-selection claim against a freight broker — opening a second, often more solvent path to accountability when an unsafe carrier causes a crash.
- April 12, 2026
60 Minutes exposes the Super Ego chameleon-carrier networkregulatory
A 60 Minutes investigation by Bill Whitaker details how the Super Ego Holding network operated as chameleon carriers, reporting nearly 15,000 safety violations and about 500 crashes over two years, and prompting federal legislation to tighten FMCSA registration.
- 2023–2025
Chameleon carriers proliferate despite FMCSA enforcementregulatory
Federal regulators and safety advocates warn that trucking companies increasingly evade enforcement by reincarnating under new names and DOT numbers, keeping unsafe operators on the road despite shutdown orders.
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