Sarah Susman was killed in 2021 when an overloaded logging truck overturned and crushed her car.
The practice of double brokering allows trucking companies to pass shipments to other carriers, often eroding safety oversight and accountability.
The author argues that deregulation, low insurance minimums, and caps on damages contribute to preventable trucking-related tragedies.
Proposed solutions include raising minimum insurance requirements, eliminating damage caps, and holding all parties in the shipping chain accountable.
On Sept. 3, 2021, Sarah Susman left home for what seemed like an ordinary workday. A 25-year-old part-time medic and volunteer firefighter, Sarah understood the risks of her profession. However, she could never have prepared for the tragedy that unfolded on Oregon’s Highway 126. While driving along the highway, an overloaded logging truck, carelessly operated, overturned and spilled its cargo into oncoming traffic, crushing Sarah’s Toyota Prius and ending her life.
As someone who fights for justice on behalf of victims like Sarah and their families, I see these preventable tragedies all too often. In 2022 alone, 5,936 people were killed and over 160,608 injured in trucking-related crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These numbers don’t begin to capture the emotional and financial toll on families left behind. Trucking wrecks also take a toll on the at-fault driver and their families.
Sarah’s case is just one tragic example of systemic failures that continue to put lives at risk on our roads. Much of the danger can be traced back to the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which deregulated the industry and paved the way for profit to take precedence over safety. Trucking companies, and shippers and companies that hire trucking companies, began cutting corners — lowering hiring standards, skimping on vehicle maintenance, failing to train drivers, and engaging in practices like double brokering.
The truck driver who killed Sarah had multiple violations, including a DUI and suspended license, yet Wolf Creek Timber continued to employ him. The company itself racked up nearly 200 safety violations before the crash and failed to implement even the most basic safety protocols. It has since ceased operations — but only after claiming Sarah’s life.
Oregon’s laws only make matters worse. The maximum award for non-economic damages, such as pain, suffering, and emotional distress, is $500,000. While no amount of money can replace a life, this figure falls far short of providing fair compensation for a family’s grief and the long-term impact of such a loss. This is a system that only deepens the wounds for families like Sarah’s, who must reconcile with the fact that those who caused the tragedy are not held fully accountable.
But it’s not just the damage caps that need changing; it’s also the practice of double brokering that continues to put our safety at risk. Double brokering occurs when a trucking company passes a shipment to another carrier without telling the original shipper or the business that hired them to transport the goods. This breakdown in the chain of custody erodes accountability, makes safety oversight nearly impossible, and allows companies with questionable safety records to operate under the radar.
Double brokering often pushes the most dangerous carriers to the front of the line, not because they’re the safest, but because they’re the cheapest. Each broker and carrier in the chain takes a portion of the fee from the shipper, leaving the company that actually hauls the load with little money to operate. In the end, the job often goes to whoever will do it for the lowest cost, and too often, those carriers cut corners and put everyone at risk.
Shipping companies and their independent contractors often hire the cheapest and most dangerous truckers and trucking companies. In Sarah’s case, R&T Logging, the broker contracted by the shipper Starker Forests, passed the job off to Wolf Creek Timber without conducting even a cursory review of its safety record. Wolf Creek had a lengthy rap sheet of significant safety violations, including employing a driver with a once suspended license and prior DUI, who ultimately killed Sarah. Had R&T initiated even a basic internet search, they would have seen these red flags. But because the freight was double brokered, that vetting never happened, and Sarah paid the price.
The legal complexity of double brokering helped R&T Logging avoid accountability for Sarah’s death. Despite testimony from R&T leadership admitting they did nothing to investigate Wolf Creek before handing its load of logs, the jury let them off the hook. That’s partly because shady brokering creates plausible deniability: companies can claim they weren’t the ones behind the wheel, even if they enabled the risk. Without greater awareness, clear enforcement, or meaningful penalties, brokers and carriers can pass the buck — literally and legally.
In Oregon, where logging trucks navigate some of the most challenging roads in the country, double brokering exacerbates the risks. When drivers and operators cut corners to save time or money, more accidents occur.
To address these issues, we need urgent changes in both local and national trucking laws. First and foremost, we must raise the minimum insurance requirements for trucking companies. The current $750,000 threshold, set over 40 years ago, is woefully inadequate given the catastrophic injuries and deaths that semi-trucks weighing in excess of 80,000 lbs. cause every day. The Truck Safety Coalition has calculated that in today’s dollars, this number should be closer to $2.6 million. Without an increase in minimum insurance, trucking companies have little incentive to invest in safety or responsible practices.
Additionally, Oregon must reconsider its damage caps. It is fundamentally unfair to place a dollar limit on a life lost or forever altered by catastrophic injury. The Susman family, and many others, deserve better. The legal system should ensure that victims receive full and fair compensation, reflective of the true cost of their losses.
Finally, it’s time to take a stand against double brokering. Lawmakers should propose reforms that allow injured parties to explicitly hold every broker or carrier in the chain financially accountable. One way to accomplish this would be amending state insurance law or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to require that any motor carrier or broker taking part of the fee for a load (or any company that is part of the chain) be formally designated as a “motor carrier” for that load and carry the federal minimum liability coverage. This would close the loophole that allows unsafe companies to escape accountability while profiting from unsafe practices.
Until we impose stricter enforcement and raise awareness of how double brokering endangers lives, tragedies like Sarah’s will keep happening, and too often, no one will be held accountable.
Tom D’Amore, founder of D’Amore Law Group, is a personal injury attorney with over 30 years of experience in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and complex civil litigation claims.