CH Robinson and TQL sued under RICO by six US trucking companies over alleged use of non-compliant carriers

The useful part

One plaintiff, Freymiller Trucking, says it has identified $51.2m in lost sales across 63 customers. The claimants have not put a total value on the case, but seek damages to be determined at trial – including treble damages under the US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The complaint, filed in a Texas federal court on 23 September, alleges that the brokers promised shippers safe, compliant transport while passing loads to carriers that avoided the costs of meeting safety and labour rules.

How it works

• Their complaint names the Super Ego trucking network as an example of the capacity they allege the brokers used.
• Image: plaintiffs' complaint, page 24 Still images reproduced in the carriers' complaint appear to show a truck's company markings being changed to Tutash Express.
• The trucking companies' claim is that CH Robinson and TQL knew, or should have known, how the carriers they used were operating.
• The carriers will have to show that the defendants' alleged conduct caused their losses, rather than ordinary competition or other pressures in the freight market.
• The new suit follows the separate Lipe case, in which a jury returned a $604m verdict following a fatal truck crash.

What to take from it

The plaintiffs claim they lost business because they could not match the resulting rates. The six plaintiffs are Stevens Trucking, Western Flyer Express, Freymiller, IWX Motor Freight, Christenson Transportation, and EOS. It appears to ask him to avoid weigh stations and offers him an extra $100 if he does.

Example or evidence

• A message screenshot reproduced in the carriers' court complaint appears to offer a driver $100 to avoid weigh stations.
• The plaintiffs attribute the message to the driver's carrier, not to CH Robinson or TQL.
• The plaintiffs cite them in support of their allegations about carriers switching identities.
• Images: plaintiffs' court complaint, page 22 Those are allegations about the carriers' practices, not evidence that either broker sent the instructions.

Details worth keeping

CH Robinson in hot water again, as truckers bring 'racketeering' suit. The images do not show CH Robinson or TQL directing the change. The plaintiffs give examples of the business they say they lost.

Related coverage

• Cdllife: A group of six family-owner trucking companies filed a lawsuit against two of America's largest freight brokers in Texas federal court late last week.
• Freightwaves: A new lawsuit charges C.H. Robinson and TQO with RICO-prohibited actions.
• Theloadstar: CH Robinson has strongly refuted allegations in a racketeering lawsuit brought by six US trucking companies, and confirmed that carriers within the Super Ego network are no longer part of its freight network.
• Theloadstar: On September 17, 2025, CH Robinson published its Carrier of the Year winners.