49 USC 14706: Carmack Liability, Defenses, and Claim Filing

Under 49 U.S.C. 14706 — the Carmack Amendment — an interstate motor carrier or freight forwarder is liable for the actual loss or injury to property it accepts for shipment, and the shipper can recover by filing a written claim with the carrier and, if that fails, suing in state or federal court. The statute sets a single nationwide standard of carrier liability that displaces state law, and it fixes the deadlines and mechanics that decide whether a damaged-cargo claim gets paid or gets dismissed.¹

Who Is Liable Under Section 14706

The statute reaches two kinds of transportation companies: motor carriers and freight forwarders. Both must issue a bill of lading for interstate property, and both answer for loss or damage in the transportation chain. A freight forwarder is treated as both the receiving and delivering carrier, so it cannot push responsibility onto the trucking company it hired.¹

Freight brokers are a different animal. A broker arranges transportation without hauling it and is generally not a carrier under Carmack, so the strict liability rules do not apply to it. If you booked through a broker and your load was damaged, your 14706 claim runs against the motor carrier named on the bill of lading. Courts look at what a company actually did on the shipment, not just what its operating authority says, so a broker that issued its own bill of lading and directed handling can end up reclassified as a carrier. The Eleventh Circuit worked through that line in Essex Insurance Co. v. Barrett Moving & Storage, Inc.²

The shipment itself has to be interstate — moving across state lines or between the United States and an adjacent country. Courts read this by intended route rather than physical path, so a load that pauses in one state on the way to another still qualifies.³ Purely intrastate moves are outside 14706 and fall under state law instead.

Carriers also cannot escape by subcontracting. The originating carrier that issued the bill of lading answers for damage that happens in a subcontractor’s hands, as the Seventh Circuit held in Tempel Steel Corp. v. Landstar Inway, Inc.⁴

What the Shipper Has to Prove

Carmack liability is close to strict liability. You do not need to show the carrier was negligent. Three elements do the work: the goods were delivered to the carrier in good condition, they arrived damaged or short (or did not arrive at all), and you suffered a specific dollar amount of loss. Once you show those three, the carrier is presumed liable unless it proves a recognized defense applies. The Supreme Court laid this out in Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Elmore & Stahl.⁵

The bill of lading is where the first element usually gets decided. A “clean” bill — one without notations about damage — creates a presumption the goods were in good condition when the carrier took them. Any pre-existing damage should be written on the document at pickup, because signing a clean bill and complaining later leaves you fighting your own paperwork. Federal regulations require a bill of lading for every interstate load.⁶

Damages are measured by the actual loss — typically the market value of the goods at the time and place they should have been delivered. Courts may add incidental costs like replacement shipping fees when the shipper can tie them directly to the carrier’s failure. The statute covers “actual loss or injury to the property” and does not authorize punitive damages or losses unrelated to the cargo itself.¹

The Valuation Choice That Sets Your Payout

A carrier can limit its liability if it gives the shipper a fair choice between full coverage and a lower-cost reduced coverage, and if the choice appears clearly in the shipping paperwork. For household goods, that choice usually takes two forms.⁷

Full Value Protection is the default. The carrier is responsible for the replacement value of lost or damaged items in the shipment. It costs more, and it applies automatically unless the shipper opts out.
Released Value drops liability to 60 cents per pound per item. It is free but almost worthless in practice: a 50-pound television worth $800 yields $30. Choosing it requires the shipper to sign a written statement on the bill of lading acknowledging the reduced coverage.⁸

Even under full value protection, carriers can cap liability for items of “extraordinary value” — anything worth more than $100 per pound. Jewelry, fine china, and furs are common examples. If you do not declare those items in writing on the shipping documents, the carrier’s liability for each one may be limited to $100 per pound regardless of actual worth.⁹ List every high-value item before the truck leaves.

Defenses That Can Defeat a Carmack Claim

The carrier carries the burden on each of these, and courts read them narrowly.

Act of God

An unforeseeable natural event — hurricane, earthquake, sudden flood — that directly caused the loss and could not have been prevented with reasonable precautions. If the carrier had warning and did not act, the defense fails.

Act of the Public Enemy

Losses from war, armed hostilities, or terrorism. Ordinary theft and vandalism do not count; those are risks the carrier is expected to guard against.

Act of the Shipper

Damage caused by the shipper’s own poor packaging, inaccurate labeling, or failure to disclose hazardous conditions. The Fifth Circuit applied this defense in Sassy Doll Creations, Inc. v. Watkins Motor Lines, Inc., where inadequate packaging by the shipper caused fragile goods to break in transit.¹⁰ It disappears if the carrier also contributed to the damage.

Inherent Vice

Goods that deteriorate because of their own nature — produce that spoils, cheese that molds, tobacco that dries out. The carrier still has to show its handling, including temperature control and timing, was appropriate for the cargo.

Authority of Law

Losses from government action, such as goods seized by law enforcement or quarantined by health authorities, when the government action was the direct cause and beyond the carrier’s control.

Filing the Claim

A cargo claim is a mandatory first step. Federal regulations require a written communication that identifies the shipment, asserts carrier liability for the loss or damage, and demands a specific dollar amount.¹¹ Attach the bill of lading, photographs, inspection reports, and invoices showing value. Vague submissions give carriers a reason to delay or deny.

Once the claim is properly filed, the carrier has 120 days to pay, decline, or make a firm settlement offer. If it cannot resolve the claim in that window, it must send written status updates every 60 days explaining the delay.¹²

The Nine-Month Deadline

Section 14706 lets carriers set a claim-filing window, but that window cannot be shorter than nine months from delivery, or from the date delivery should have occurred for lost shipments.¹ A carrier can give you longer in its bill of lading; it cannot give you less. Miss it and the claim usually dies regardless of merit. This is where shippers most often lose out: months of informal back-and-forth with the carrier, no written claim ever filed, and one day the window is gone.

Concealed Damage

When the outside packaging looks fine but the contents are broken, industry standards published by the National Motor Freight Classification give shippers five business days from delivery to report the damage and request a carrier inspection. Keep the container and its contents exactly as you found them until the inspection. Reporting later means proving the damage occurred before delivery, which gets much harder as time passes.

Suing After a Denial

If the carrier denies the claim or lowballs the settlement, you can sue. The Carmack Amendment does not force shippers into federal court — suit can be filed in either state or federal court, though cases involving more than $10,000 in damages may be removable to federal court.

The lawsuit deadline is a minimum of two years from the date the carrier gave written notice denying the claim.¹ A carrier can extend that period in its bill of lading; it cannot shorten it below the statutory floor. Track both dates: nine months to file the claim, and two years from denial to file suit.

Damages in court track the claim itself — actual value of the property plus incidental costs directly caused by the carrier’s failure. Punitive damages are not available, and Carmack’s preemption of state law generally blocks parallel state-law theories like fraud or deceptive trade practices arising from the same cargo loss. Actual loss to the property is the exclusive measure of recovery for an interstate shipping claim.

Extra Rules for Household Goods

Household goods shipments sit inside the Carmack framework but pick up additional protections under 49 U.S.C. 14708. Every interstate household goods carrier must offer shippers a neutral arbitration program as a condition of maintaining its registration, and it cannot force you to agree to arbitration before a dispute arises.¹³

For claims of $10,000 or less, if the shipper requests arbitration, the carrier must participate. For larger claims, the carrier can decline. The arbitrator has to be independent of both parties, the shipper cannot be required to pay more than half the arbitrator’s fees, and a decision has to come within 60 days of the arbitrator receiving the dispute.¹⁴

Household goods shippers can also recover attorney fees if they win in court, but only when three conditions line up: the claim was submitted to the carrier within 120 days of the delivery date (or the scheduled delivery date, whichever is later), the shipper wins the lawsuit, and at least one of the following is true — the carrier never told the shipper about the arbitration program, arbitration failed to produce a decision within the required timeframe, or the suit is to enforce an arbitration award the carrier has ignored.¹³ Carriers, by contrast, can recover attorney fees from a shipper only if the court finds the shipper acted in bad faith by suing after arbitration had already resolved the dispute.

Notice the mismatch: 120 days to preserve attorney-fee eligibility versus nine months to preserve the underlying Carmack claim. If you are moving household goods, file the written claim inside the 120-day window and keep every option open.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 14706 – Liability of Carriers Under Receipts and Bills of Lading
2
Justia. Essex Insurance Co v Barrett Moving and Storage Inc, No 16-11526 (11th Cir 2018)
3
Justia. Project Hope v M/V IBN SINA, 250 F3d 67 (2d Cir 2001)
4
Justia. Tempel Steel Corporation v Landstar Inway Inc, 211 F3d 1029 (7th Cir 2000)
5
Legal Information Institute. Missouri Pacific Railroad Company v Elmore and Stahl
6
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 1035 – Bills of Lading
7
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Liability and Protection
8
Legal Information Institute. 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 375 – Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move
9
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 375 – Transportation of Household Goods in Interstate Commerce
10
Justia. Sassy Doll Creations Inc v Watkins Motor Lines Inc, 331 F3d 834 (5th Cir 2003)
11
eCFR. 49 CFR 370.3 – Filing of Claims
12
eCFR. 49 CFR 370.9 – Disposition of Claims
13
govinfo. 49 USC 14708 – Dispute Settlement Program for Household Goods Carriers
14
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Arbitration Program