A KOB 4 investigation published Tuesday night put a number on something New Mexico drivers have long suspected: commercial semi-trucks on Interstate 40 through Tijeras Canyon are dangerous in ways that go far beyond any single crash. Records obtained by KOB show the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office responded to 228 semi-truck crashes in Tijeras Canyon since 2018. The investigation was prompted by the death of BCSO Sergeant Michael Schlattman, who was struck and killed while stopped on the shoulder of I-40 by a westbound truck driver. No braking was detected before impact.
That story broke the same week the United States Supreme Court issued one of the most significant trucking liability decisions in a generation — a ruling that directly affects what an injured person or a grieving family can recover when a commercial truck crashes into them.
What the KOB Investigation Found
The KOB investigation widened beyond Sgt. Schlattman’s death into a broader examination of how the trucking industry operates — and why accountability is so difficult to establish after a crash.
Low barriers to entry. Under federal deregulation, becoming a motor carrier can cost roughly $1,000 and take 21 days. The result is an industry with thin safety margins and intense pressure to keep trucks moving, logs compliant on paper, and costs low.
“Chameleon carriers.” A growing concern in trucking litigation involves companies that dissolve after crashes or safety violations, then reopen under new names with fresh federal DOT numbers. The practice effectively resets their public safety record. According to attorneys interviewed by KOB, federal oversight is stretched: roughly 350 investigators cover more than 500,000 interstate carriers nationwide.
The KOB report also described a lawsuit filed after the death of 10-day-old Kehlany Martin near Raton, New Mexico. That suit alleges the truck driver exceeded federally allowed drive times, falsified logbooks, and continued operating despite warning signs — and that the carrier operated through shifting business entities that complicated accountability. According to the report, the company’s owner later fled to Eastern Europe while litigation was ongoing.
For families trying to recover after a crash in New Mexico, this pattern has a direct consequence: the entity that caused the harm may be impossible to find, bankrupt, or legally dissolved by the time a claim is filed. That is not an accident. It is a strategy.
The Supreme Court Just Changed the Legal Landscape
One week before the KOB investigation aired, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238, in a unanimous 9-0 ruling written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The case arose from a crash in which Shawn Montgomery was severely injured when his truck was struck by a driver dispatched by freight broker C.H. Robinson. Montgomery alleged that C.H. Robinson knew — or should have known from Caribe Transport’s publicly available safety rating — that hiring that carrier created an unreasonable risk of crashes and injuries to others on the road.
The Supreme Court held that state-law negligent hiring claims against freight brokers are not preempted by federal law. Brokers can now be sued in state court when they fail to exercise reasonable care in selecting the carriers they put on the road.
For truck accident victims in New Mexico, this matters enormously. Truck accident cases have always required looking beyond the driver. The carrier, the insurer, the maintenance company, and the shipper all have potential exposure depending on the facts. The Montgomery ruling adds freight brokers — the middlemen who connected the shipper to the carrier — to that list.
In the context of what KOB reported about chameleon carriers: when the motor carrier is gone, dissolved, or judgment-proof, the freight broker who selected them may now be the most viable defendant remaining. Before May 14, 2026, the federal courts of appeals were split on whether these claims were preempted — some circuits allowed them, others did not. Montgomery resolved the split: state-law negligent-selection claims against brokers may now proceed nationwide. The decision does not make brokers automatically liable — it removes their preemption defense.
Why You Cannot Negotiate a Truck Accident Claim Alone
If you or a family member was hurt in a commercial truck crash in New Mexico, what the KOB investigation describes is exactly what you are up against. A carrier whose rapid-response team may have arrived at the scene before you left the hospital. An insurance company whose adjusters are trained to limit liability, not pay fair value. And potentially a chameleon-carrier structure designed to make accountability difficult even after you identify who hit you.
The Montgomery ruling opens new doors — but only if the right evidence is preserved, the right entities are identified, and the right claims are filed in time. Freight broker selection records, carrier vetting files, and load documentation are not automatically retained. They have to be demanded, and they have to be demanded quickly.
A wrongful death case involving a commercial truck is among the most legally complex personal injury matters there is. If a family member was killed on I-40, I-25, US-491, or any New Mexico highway by a semi-truck, the decision not to hire an attorney may cost far more than the attorney ever would have.
What to Do If You Were Hurt in a Truck Crash in New Mexico
Do not speak to the carrier’s insurance company. They will call. Their goal is to limit what they pay. You are not required to give a recorded statement. Say only that you are represented or will be consulting an attorney.
Preserve everything. Photographs of the scene, the vehicles, road conditions, and your injuries. Names and contact information of every witness. Any dashcam footage. Every communication you receive from any insurance adjuster.
Do not wait. Electronic logging device data, the truck’s black box, and driver inspection records have limited retention windows. A preservation letter from an attorney creates a legal obligation to maintain that evidence. The sooner it goes out, the better.
Identify all potential defendants. After Montgomery, that now includes the freight broker. Your attorney needs to know who brokered the load — information available in shipping records that can be subpoenaed if necessary.
Call Alex Flores at Singleton Schreiber
Alex Flores at Singleton Schreiber handles commercial truck accident cases throughout New Mexico, including cases on I-40 through Tijeras Canyon, I-25, and the highways that run through western New Mexico. The firm has the resources to investigate carriers, demand freight broker records, and take these cases to trial when insurance companies refuse to pay fair value.
No charge for the initial consultation. No fees unless we recover for you.
📞 Call 505-587-3473 — Ask for Alex
Sources: KOB 4, “4 Investigates: Hidden dangers of the trucking industry,” May 19, 2026; SCOTUSblog, “Court rules freight brokers can face negligent hiring suits under state law,” May 2026; Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238 (U.S. May 14, 2026).