The Carmack Amendment: Carrier Liability, Defenses, and Claims

The Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706, governs carrier liability for interstate freight: once you prove your goods left in good condition and arrived damaged, lost, or short, the motor carrier or freight forwarder owes you the actual loss unless it can prove one of five narrow defenses. It’s a federal standard that displaces state-law claims for damaged interstate shipments, and courts treat it as close to strict liability against the carrier.

Who and What the Law Covers

The statute reaches motor carriers and freight forwarders moving property under federal jurisdiction, along with any railroad that handles the final leg of the shipment.¹ It also covers shipments that begin and end in the same state if the freight passes through another state or an adjacent foreign country in transit, and export shipments moving from the United States to Canada or Mexico under a through bill of lading. Imports moving the opposite direction sit in a gray area; courts have historically declined to extend the statute to inbound international freight.

Freight brokers are not carriers and are not covered. Because brokers arrange transportation without moving the freight themselves, courts consistently place them outside the liability framework. What matters is what a company actually does, not what it calls itself, and the clearest indicator is whether it issues a bill of lading. If it does, courts treat it as a carrier.

What You Have to Prove

You do not have to show the carrier was negligent, and in a multi-carrier chain you do not have to identify which one caused the damage. You need three things:

The goods were in good condition when you tendered them to the carrier.
They arrived damaged, short, or did not arrive at all.
You can quantify the loss in dollars.

Once you establish those elements, the full burden of proof shifts to the carrier and stays there.² The bill of lading is central to this proof, because it records the condition of the goods at pickup and the delivery date that starts your claim clock. If damage is visible when the truck arrives, note it on the bill of lading or delivery receipt before signing. Keep your copy.

The Carrier’s Five Defenses

To escape liability the carrier must prove two things at once: that the loss was caused by one of five recognized exceptions, and that the carrier itself was free of negligence.² Proving the exception is not enough on its own. The five recognized causes are:

An act of God, such as a flood, tornado, or earthquake the carrier could not have reasonably avoided.
An act of a public enemy, meaning war or armed hostility rather than ordinary theft or vandalism.
Fault of the shipper, typically improper packaging, inaccurate labeling, or defective loading.
Action by a government authority, such as seizure or quarantine.
The inherent nature of the goods, such as fruit that rots or chemicals that react.

The shipper-fault defense comes up most often. Carriers regularly argue that damaged freight was improperly packed or loaded by the customer. Photographs and detailed records from before the handoff are your best protection.

What You Can Recover

Recovery is limited to the “actual loss or injury” to the property.¹ Courts measure that as the difference between the market value of the goods at the point of shipment and their diminished value after the damage. For a total loss, that generally means the full fair market value at destination. Bring invoices, purchase orders, or appraisals.

Because the statute preempts state law, a large range of claims and remedies is off the table. Punitive damages are not available, since the state-law theories that support them (fraud, consumer protection, intentional misconduct) are preempted. Attorney fees are generally not recoverable either. The narrow exception is collect-on-delivery household goods shipments, where 49 U.S.C. § 14708 authorizes fee-shifting. State-law claims for negligence, breach of contract, fraud, conversion, misrepresentation, and consumer protection are all swept away. Courts have been emphatic that the Carmack Amendment is the exclusive remedy for lost or damaged interstate freight, and you cannot repackage a freight claim as a state-law tort or contract case to escape its limits.

Lost profits and other consequential damages are generally unavailable. The exception tracks classic contract law: if the carrier knew at the time of contracting that a specific downstream harm would follow from loss or damage, the shipper may recover those foreseeable losses. Actual notice has to come before the shipment moves, not after. If you need this protection, tell the carrier in writing what is at stake before tendering the goods.

How Carriers Cap Their Exposure

Carriers are allowed to limit their liability through released-value rates, where you accept a lower maximum recovery in exchange for a lower freight charge.¹ The cap can be a set dollar amount per pound or a total ceiling per shipment. For a limitation to hold up, the carrier must:

Maintain a tariff or rate schedule on file or available.
Obtain the shipper’s written or electronic agreement to the reduced liability, with the limitation reasonable under the circumstances.
Offer a genuine choice between at least two liability levels, one limited and one covering full value.
Issue a bill of lading reflecting the limitation before the goods move.

Skip any of these steps and the cap fails, leaving the carrier liable for the goods’ full value. Paperwork shortcuts at pickup are common, and they routinely blow open liability caps that carriers assumed were secure.

Household Goods

Household goods shipments have their own default rule: full-value protection, meaning the carrier’s liability equals the replacement value of lost or damaged items up to the total declared value of the shipment.¹ Released rates apply only if you waive full-value protection in writing. Without that written waiver, you are entitled to full replacement coverage regardless of what the bill of lading otherwise says. Household goods carriers must also maintain a neutral arbitration program for loss and damage disputes and disclose it before you sign.³

Filing the Claim

A valid claim is a written communication to the carrier that does three things: it identifies the shipment with enough detail for the carrier to find it, it asserts carrier liability, and it demands payment of a specific dollar amount.⁴ No particular form is required. A letter or email works. Reference the bill of lading number and delivery date, and attach the bill of lading, paid freight bills, photographs, invoices, and any inspection reports.

The carrier then has 30 days to acknowledge receipt of your claim in writing and to tell you what additional documentation, if any, it needs.⁵ Acknowledgment is not required if the carrier pays or formally denies the claim inside that same window. Silence past 30 days is a signal to start documenting the delay and consider escalation.

Concealed damage sits in a gap. No federal law or regulation sets a hard deadline for reporting damage you discover after the driver leaves. Most less-than-truckload carriers follow the National Motor Freight Classification, which calls for notice within five business days of delivery. Past that point you carry the burden of proving the damage occurred before delivery rather than after. Inspect thoroughly and quickly.

The Nine-Month and Two-Year Deadlines

The statute sets floors that carriers cannot contract around. Your initial claim window cannot be shorter than nine months from the delivery date, or from the date delivery should have occurred if the freight never arrived.⁶ Nine months is the minimum; a carrier can allow more and many do, but never less.

After the carrier denies the claim, you have at least two years to file suit, running from the date the carrier sends written notice disallowing the claim.⁶ Two details matter. A settlement offer does not count as a denial unless the carrier separately states in writing that some part of the claim is disallowed and explains why. And a letter from the carrier’s insurance company does not start the clock unless the insurer says so in writing and identifies itself as acting on the carrier’s behalf.

Where to File Suit

You can go to federal district court or state court, with no minimum amount in controversy for federal jurisdiction under this statute.¹ A suit against the delivering carrier belongs in a court sitting in a state or judicial district through which that carrier operates. A suit against the specific carrier alleged to have caused the loss can be filed in the district where the damage is alleged to have occurred. You do not have to sue where the carrier is headquartered.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 14706 – Liability of Carriers Under Receipts and Bills of Lading
2
Digital Commons @ DU. The Evolution of Motor Carrier Liability Under the Carmack Amendment Into the 21st Century
3
eCFR. 49 CFR 375.211 – Must I Have an Arbitration Program
4
eCFR. 49 CFR 370.3 – Filing of Claims
5
eCFR. 49 CFR 370.5 – Acknowledgment of Claims
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 14706 – Liability of Carriers Under Receipts and Bills of Lading – Section: Minimum Period for Filing Claims