Mega broker TQL responded to accusations of federal racketeering from six motor carriers, blaming the carriers themselves for "poor business practices" causing them to lose out to cheaper carriers.
- The carriers' lawsuit, filed in September, accused TQL and C.H. Robinson of working with illegal carriers in the Super Ego network to price other motor carriers out of freight.
- The civil complaint seeks to use a type of legal action typically leveraged against organized crime, alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and calling out the brokers' ties to the Super Ego network of "chameleon carriers."
- TQL's response came with motions to dismiss the case filed recently in federal court in Texas.
The original complaint came from carriers Stevens Trucking Co.; Western Flyer Express, LLC; D&M Carriers, LLC d/b/a Freymiller Trucking; IWX Motor Freight, LLC; Christenson Transportation Inc.; and E.O.S. Inc., and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas, Marshall Division.
It begins by stating the "decline of lawful asset-based trucking operations in the United States" is "driven by a coordinated relationship" between the brokers and "illegal carriers." The complaint cites witnesses saying they drove for Super Ego-affiliated carriers, went over hours-of-service limits, and that sometimes C.H. Robinson or TQL was listed as the carrier on their load's bill of lading.
Overall, the complaint says the big brokers conspired with illegal carriers (both C.H. Robinson and TQL honored Super Ego with awards for being a top carrier in their networks, despite Super Ego describing itself as a leasing company) and cost them business.
[Related: C.H. Robinson, Super Ego chalk up 'chameleon carrier' outrage to a big misunderstanding]
C.H. Robinson already vigorously denied the allegations in the lawsuit, and now TQL says the carriers have only themselves to blame if they lost out on freight opportunities. At once, the complaint mostly focuses on C.H. Robinson, and one carrier named in the suit, IWX, didn't even directly accuse TQL of anything, TQL said.
Here's the crux of TQL's response:
"Stripped of its rhetoric, this is a dispute about Plaintiffs losing freight to a lower bidder, the likely result of their poor business practices. Plaintiffs dress this ordinary commercial setback that they are solely responsible for in the language of racketeering and false advertising because they cannot plead a single TQL act that caused a single lost account. Total Quality Logistics, LLC (TQL) is a freight broker that buys hauling services from third-party motor carriers. The Complaint's most serious allegations -- unsafe carriers, falsified logs, and coerced drivers -- describe the conduct of those carriers, not TQL, and the Complaint never connects any TQL act to any lost account these plaintiffs identify.
In any event, the Complaint's own structure defeats it. It attributes most of these plaintiffs' lost accounts to C.H. Robinson, not TQL. Its TQL-specific allegations reduce to two narratives -- Stevens's and Western Flyer's Johnson Controls diversion and Christenson's Bridgestone account -- while Freymiller and EOS rest on collective, undifferentiated attribution to "Defendants." None of these allegations supplies what RICO and the Lanham Act require: a TQL predicate act or advertisement pleaded with particularity and tied directly to a particular plaintiff's lost freight. This is a defect that runs through every count -- the absence of a direct causal link between any TQL violation and any plaintiff's injury. Low rates, carrier noncompliance, and a declining freight market do not establish that TQL committed racketeering or false advertising."
TQL therefore asks the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
If the case should proceed, TQL asks that the venue change from a federal court in Texas to Clermont County, Ohio, where its carrier agreement stipulates all legal cases should be handled.
As for the "poor business practices" likely causing the carriers to lose out on freight, TQL did not specify. The American Transportation Research Institute's most recent estimated average operational cost for trucking companies pegged total cost-per-mile at $2.33 based on carriers 2025 numbers. The lawsuit cites TQL loads posted as low as $1.60/mile.
Overdrive contacted IWX Motor Freight and the legal team representing the plaintiffs and did not hear back in time for publication.
[Related: Super Ego's 'chameleon' network includes some of the most crash-prone fleets nationwide]
