Montgomery Transport Lawsuit: Shutdown, $26.7M Default, Receivership

The Montgomery Transport lawsuit that most directly caused the Birmingham flatbed carrier’s collapse was filed by its own founder, Rollins Montgomery, on September 26, 2025, when he obtained a temporary restraining order in Jefferson County, Alabama, blocking the sale of the company to an affiliate of PS Logistics four days before it was set to close.¹ A second, separate lawsuit followed weeks later, when Regions Bank and Cadence Bank sued in federal court over $26.7 million in defaulted loans and asked a judge to place the company into receivership.²

The Founder’s Lawsuit That Blocked the Sale

Private equity firm One Equity Partners had taken a controlling interest in Montgomery Transport in February 2022, and by June 2025 had decided to exit trucking, citing weak freight rates, an aging fleet, and high maintenance costs.¹ The buyer lined up was an affiliate of Alabama-based PS Logistics, with closing expected on or before September 30, 2025.³

The deal never closed. Rollins Montgomery, who no longer held a controlling interest after the 2022 investment, filed suit in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County and secured a temporary restraining order on September 26.¹ The specific legal claims in that filing were not publicly detailed, though Montgomery later acknowledged active litigation between himself and the company’s majority owners.⁴

The Shutdown That Followed

With the sale dead, management first considered a Chapter 11 reorganization using PS Logistics as a stalking-horse bidder, but creditors could not agree, and the company shifted to a full shutdown.³ On October 9, 2025, Montgomery Transport announced it was closing immediately.⁵

Drivers were told by internal message to finish current deliveries, pick up no new loads, and return to the nearest terminal or go home.⁵¹⁶ No WARN Act notice from Montgomery Transport appears in the Alabama workforce layoff database, raising a question about whether the company provided the 60-day advance notice generally required for mass layoffs under federal law.⁷

The Banks’ $26.7 Million Default Suit

On October 17, 2025, Regions Bank and Cadence Bank filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, alleging that Montgomery Transportation Group and its affiliated businesses (including MT Dedicated, MT Select, RM Logistics, M1, and Montgomery Logistics) had defaulted on loans originally extended in 2022. The banks put the principal balance at $26.7 million, not counting accrued interest, fees, and other charges.²

The banks argued that company assets were “in imminent danger of significant diminution, impairment and, overall, loss of value” after the abrupt closure, the release of workers, and the abandonment of vehicles. They asked the court to appoint a third-party receiver to preserve what remained.²

Receivership and Bankruptcy Status

On October 28, 2025, Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala of the Northern District of Alabama appointed Aurora Management Partners as federal equity receiver for Montgomery Transport Group, Inc. and its related entities, in case number 2:25-cv-01772-MHH. Aurora’s team is led by Managing Director David Baker and Senior Managing Director Laura Kendall.⁸

The company had also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation on October 11, 2025.⁶ Rollins Montgomery, however, said in a February 2026 statement that the company was in receivership but had not filed for bankruptcy, leaving the relationship between the Chapter 7 case and the receivership unclear from the public record.⁹

Competing Accounts of Who Caused the Collapse

The internal message circulated to drivers blamed Rollins Montgomery directly, saying his lawsuit and restraining order had killed the PS Logistics deal and forced the company into bankruptcy.⁵

Montgomery pushed back. In an October 9, 2025 statement, he said, “The current circumstances stem from financial decisions that were beyond my control,” and added, “I would never take steps that would intentionally harm the company I built and have fought for over so many years.”¹⁰

In a longer February 2026 statement, he attributed the failure to what he called a common pattern in trucking “when financial control replaces experienced leadership,” arguing that operational decision-making, financial controls, and workforce stability had deteriorated after One Equity Partners took over in 2022. “The company did not fail because of its drivers, vendors, customers, or employees,” he said.¹¹

What’s Left of the Company and What Comes Next

As of mid-2026, Montgomery Transport’s federal operating authority is listed as “Not Authorized,” with only three power units and four drivers remaining on its FMCSA record, down from a fleet of roughly 450 trucks.¹²⁵

Rollins Montgomery has moved to re-enter the flatbed market with a new Birmingham-area company, Second Mile Transport, planned to launch at the end of March 2026. He said the company ordered 145 power units and 195 aluminum trailers and had 70 drivers signed on before launch, with a logistics arm to follow by August 2026.¹³ FMCSA records show Second Mile was added to the database on January 13, 2026, operating out of Tarrant, Alabama, with active interstate authority for general freight, metal products, building materials, and machinery.¹⁴ Montgomery described the new venture as “grounded in operational discipline and industry experience,” drawing a contrast with the private equity management he has blamed for Montgomery Transport’s collapse.⁹

1
Transport Topics. Montgomery Transport Shutters
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Yahoo Finance. Montgomery Transport Default $25M Loans
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CCJ Digital. Montgomery Transport Closure Like Losing Family
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TLI Magazine. Montgomery Transport Enters Liquidation as Market Pressures Mount
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Trucking Info. Montgomery Transport Suddenly Shuts Down
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AL.com. Another National Shipping Company Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
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Workforce Alabama. WARN List
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Aurora Management Partners. Aurora Appointed Receiver to Montgomery Transport Group
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PR Newswire. Montgomery Transport Placed Into Receivership Founder Issues First Person Account
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PR Newswire. Rollins Montgomery Issues Statement on Recent Developments at Montgomery Transport
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Yahoo Finance. Montgomery Transport Placed Into Receivership Founder Issues First Person Account
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FMCSA. Montgomery Transport LLC Carrier Snapshot
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Transport Topics. Montgomery Founder Flatbed
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Broker Snapshot. Second Mile Transport