The $100,000 Catch

TGIF. $100,000 might be all it takes to get a bunch of non-domiciled drivers approved, and in court last week, FMCSA couldn't explain why nobody checks the investor's own driving record either.

Plus:

• Trucking's Nuclear Verdicts Nearly Tripled

• Swap the Passport for a CDL

• The Freight "Recovery" Is Running on Fumes

💡 QUESTION OF THE DAY:

FMCSA ordered ___ states to stop issuing non-domiciled CDLs until they pass a compliance audit.

🍳 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT

⚖️ Trucking's Nuclear Verdicts Nearly Tripled. Nuclear verdicts against trucking and automotive companies nearly tripled in 2025, reaching $3.4 billion across 12 cases, up from $1.4 billion across 15 cases in 2024, according to Marathon Strategies' annual report on corporate litigation. That's part of a broader surge: across all industries, roughly 200 verdicts of $10 million or more totaled $25.6 billion last year, up 40.7% from 2024, with more than 40 topping $100 million — the second straight year that's happened. "These cases are becoming broader, more frequent and increasingly difficult for companies to predict or prepare for," said Phil Singer, Marathon's founder and CEO. Researchers point to younger jurors, who tend to be more skeptical of corporations.

🚨 Swap the Passport for a CDL. A federal lawsuit against staffing company Omega Compliance Solutions now covers at least 45 Mexican commercial drivers, according to attorney Karla Madrazo Villarreal, who represents the plaintiffs. One driver alleges he paid a $3,000 "activation" fee after a recruiter told him over WhatsApp that Omega had secured his immigration paperwork, then surrendered his passport and started hauling loads. The lawsuit alleges drivers who later questioned the process or tried to leave were threatened with deportation and blacklisting. Named carrier defendants include South Star Logistics, Trius Trucking, and A&I Transport. The case is still pending, and none of the allegations have been proven in court yet.

📉 The Freight "Recovery" Is Running on Fumes. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) Foundation's September market update found rates diverging from demand across nearly every truck type. "There is a real risk that the recovery could be short-lived," the OOIDA Foundation said. Reefer rates fell in half of all regions even as demand rose, because the gain is coming from carriers leaving the market, not more freight moving. Flatbed demand fell for a third straight month, and rates didn't rise in a single region. "If drivers start reentering the market or demand slips even modestly, it could create a major headwind," the Foundation added. Fuel drove the sharpest increase in operating costs this month, with interest rates and tariffs adding pressure from the other side.

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The Rule Vets the Wrong Person

North Dakota has issued more non-domiciled CDLs to visa holders in the past five months than it used to issue in an entire year. That's not supposed to happen.

Federal rules that took effect in March were meant to shrink that number, not grow it, and mostly they have.

Arizona has handed out just 34 since the ban started, down from 6,103 before it. Pennsylvania hasn't issued a single one. North Dakota's math only works because of a carve-out the ban itself created.

The Loophole

Only three visa categories qualify for a non-domiciled CDL: H-2A (temporary agricultural workers), H-2B (temporary non-agricultural workers), and E-2 (treaty investors).

H-2A and H-2B holders are themselves the ones doing the job. E-2 is different: it's built for the investor, not for whoever they hire to drive.

FMCSA's own rule says eligibility is limited to visa holders who go through "enhanced consular vetting" that serves as "a functional proxy" for a state checking someone's driving history.

One Question FMCSA Couldn't Answer

A federal appeals panel spent oral arguments this month questioning that logic for E-2 specifically: one judge asked why a State Department consular officer processing an investor's visa would have any reason to check that person's driving record.

FMCSA's lawyer couldn't describe how the agency ensures visa applicants' driving records actually get vetted in the first place.

Overdrive reported that E-2 eligibility could extend to an investor's employees, and used that to sketch a scenario where a $100,000 investment in a trucking company gets every driver on the payroll approved.

Judges also pressed the agency on why it didn't grandfather in non-domiciled drivers who'd already been driving in the U.S. for a decade or more; FMCSA said doing so would undercut the rule's purpose. The panel is expected to rule any day.

Blocked Twice

The unevenness runs well beyond North Dakota and Arizona. FMCSA has placed 28 states under formal orders to halt non-domiciled CDL issuance until they pass a compliance audit.

A federal judge blocked the Department of Transportation and Homeland Security from obtaining 17 million CDL records for the second time on September 17, ruling the 21 states suing over the demand were likely to win. The records still haven't been handed over.

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 🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB

📉 Diesel Just Dropped 20 Cents Overnight. Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio saw the steepest swings (44, 42, and 38 cents, respectively), as the market reacted to growing talk of a Trump administration ban on diesel exports.

💰 4 in 10 Companies Now Lose $1M+ a Year to Theft. A new survey of loss-prevention professionals found fraudulent pickups and carrier impersonation are now a bigger worry than stolen trailers.

🚔 Truckloads of Cocaine Seized in Philly Bust. Ten people are now indicted in a cocaine trafficking ring that ran from 2024 to 2026, moving product from the Texas border into Pennsylvania hidden in ordinary freight.

🌏 The U.S.-China Trade Truce Just Got Two More Months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent extended the tariff pause through January 10, giving both countries more time to negotiate a bigger deal.

🤖 AI Caught $53,000 Nobody Else Noticed. A small carrier owner fed her fleet's GPS data into Claude and found $53,000 she didn't know she was losing, in about three minutes.

⛽ Massachusetts Might Pause Its Diesel Tax. Diesel there has nearly doubled since last year, and the governor and her Republican opponent are both racing to take credit for the fix.

🎣 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER

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😂 FREIGHT HUMOR

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🎧 THE FREIGHT CAVIAR PODCAST

Thomas Mella, Co-Founder at TrackFlo, and Rich Joseph, Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder at TrackFlo, joined Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski and Reed Loustalot on the FreightCaviar Podcast to discuss how TrackFlo helped one brokerage cut track-and-trace headcount by more than half while improving service, what acquisitions like Descartes/Tai reveal about the value behind freight-tech M&A, and why attention and distribution may matter more than ever in an AI-heavy world where almost anyone can build software.

Watch it on YouTube, or listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.