Prime Insurance Company v. Darnell Wright

Congress requires motor carriers to maintain minimum levels of financial responsibility to cover liability “for the transportation of property … between a place in a State and … a place in another State.” 49 U.S.C. 31139(b)(1). Recognizing a circuit split on the meaning of that phrase, the Seventh Circuit held that the coverage requirement applies to liability arising from an intrastate journey by a truck carrying no property at all, adopting a novel interpretation of the statute that departed from the approaches of the two courts of appeals and three state high courts that previously addressed the issue. The question presented is: Whether a trip of an empty truck between two locations in the same state qualifies as “transportation of property … between a place in a State and … a place in another State,” 49 U.S.C. 31139(b)(1). (i)