A pallet arrives crushed, a crate is short two cartons, or a whole shipment never shows up. For freight moving between states by truck, what happens next is set by one federal statute, 49 U.S.C. 14706, known as the Carmack Amendment, and one set of federal claim rules, 49 CFR Part 370. Between them they decide who you file against, what a claim has to say, how long the carrier has to answer, and how much you can recover.
This guide walks through the claim in the order you will meet it, from the delivery receipt to the last day you can sue.
The deadlines in one place
- Filing the claim: a carrier may not give you less than 9 months to file. The exact period is the one in your bill of lading or the carrier’s tariff, so check it, because the 9 months is a floor, not a promise.
- Acknowledgment: the carrier must acknowledge your claim in writing within 30 days of receiving it, unless it has already paid or declined it in writing (49 CFR 370.5).
- Answer: within 120 days of receipt the carrier must pay, decline, or make a firm compromise offer in writing. If it cannot, it must tell you in writing why, and repeat that every 60 days while the claim is open (49 CFR 370.9).
- Lawsuit: a carrier may not give you less than 2 years to sue, counted from the date it sends written notice that it has disallowed any part of the claim.
Some tariffs add their own shorter clock for one thing in particular: concealed damage, meaning damage you only find after the packaging comes off. The Old Dominion rules tariff (ODFL 100-Q, Item 594) asks to be notified of concealed loss or damage within five business days of delivery and allowed to inspect, and says a claim that misses its conditions will be denied. Read the tariff of the carrier that hauled your freight, not a generic checklist.
Who the claim goes against
Carmack makes the carrier that received the freight, the carrier that delivered it, and any carrier whose line or route it moved over liable to the person entitled to recover under the bill of lading. The liability is for “the actual loss or injury to the property.” Not issuing a bill of lading does not change that: in the words of the statute, “Failure to issue a receipt or bill of lading does not affect the liability of a carrier.”
In practice you file with the carrier named on the bill of lading or the one that delivered. Part 370 lets the claim be filed with the receiving or delivering carrier, the carrier that issued the bill of lading, or the carrier on whose line the loss occurred. Who pays in the end is settled between the carriers: the one that paid you can recover from the carrier on whose line the loss happened (14706(b)).
What the carrier counts as a claim
Under 49 CFR 370.3(b), a claim is a written communication, filed within the time limit, that does three things:
- gives facts sufficient to identify the shipment,
- asserts that the carrier is liable for the loss, damage or delay, and
- asks for a specified or determinable amount of money.
What does not count matters just as much. A note of damage on the delivery receipt, a freight bill marked short, a carrier inspection report or an appraisal “shall, standing alone, not be considered” a claim, even if it states a dollar figure (370.3(c)). Writing “damaged” when you sign for the freight protects your evidence. It does not file your claim. And if you send a claim for an uncertain amount, such as “$100 more or less,” the carrier may investigate, but it may not pay until you file one for a specified amount (370.3(d)).
What you have to prove
The standard comes from the Supreme Court in Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Elmore & Stahl, 377 U.S. 134 (1964). The shipper makes out a case by showing three things: the goods were delivered to the carrier in good condition, they arrived damaged, and the amount of the damages. The burden then moves to the carrier, which has to show both that it was free from negligence and that the damage came from one of five excepted causes: an act of God, the public enemy, the act of the shipper, public authority, or the inherent vice or nature of the goods.
So your file has three jobs. Prove condition at pickup, prove condition at delivery, and prove the money.
- Condition at pickup: the signed bill of lading with no exceptions noted, photos at loading, the packing list.
- Condition at delivery: exceptions written on the delivery receipt, photos before the freight is moved, and the packaging kept for inspection.
- The money: Part 370.7(b) lists what the carrier may require: the bill of lading, evidence of the freight charges, and the invoice or a certified copy showing the value of the property. If a whole package or shipment is lost and cannot be traced, the carrier must get a certified statement from the consignee that the goods were not received from any other source (370.7(c)).
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Declared value: the number that caps your recovery
Carmack starts from actual loss, but the same section lets a motor carrier set rates under which its liability is limited to a value “established by written or electronic declaration of the shipper or by written agreement between the carrier and shipper,” as long as that value is reasonable under the circumstances (14706(c)(1)(A)). If the carrier is not required to file its tariff, it has to give you, on request, a written or electronic copy of the rates, rules and practices your shipment moves under (14706(c)(1)(B)). That is the document to ask for before a high value load, not after a loss.
Two real tariffs show how far the default can sit below the invoice:
| Carrier tariff | Default limit on new goods | How to raise it |
|---|---|---|
| ODFL 100-Q, Item 594 | The lowest of invoice value, replacement cost, or $5.00 per pound and $50,000 per occurrence. Used or refurbished goods: $0.10 per pound and $10,000. | Item 574 sets two steps, and both are required: request additional cargo liability in writing for the full amount you want covered, and agree to pay the higher charge. A declared value written on the bill of lading alone does not trigger that request. |
| TForce Freight UPGF 102-T, Item 166 | The lesser of $25.00 per pound per package, $100,000 per shipment, or invoice value, among other limits. | Item 166-1: write the request and the dollar amount on the bill of lading, for example “Excess Declared Value Coverage requested: $20,000.00”. For US origin the charge is 3% of the excess amount, $74.50 minimum. |
These figures come from the versions of the two tariffs posted online in October 2026. Tariffs change, so check the current one before you rely on a number. Two details from them are worth knowing before you book. ODFL says that a value written onto a corrected bill of lading after delivery will not be accepted to set liability: the declaration has to exist at the time of shipment. TForce says the excess value charge is not recoverable in a cargo claim, and that its total liability, coverage included, never exceeds the actual invoice value of the goods.
The arithmetic is simple and unforgiving. A 400 pound pallet of new equipment invoiced at $60,000 and lost under a $5.00 per pound limit is capped at $2,000. Under a $25.00 per pound limit, at $10,000. Declared value is not insurance, and both tariffs say so. ODFL: additional cargo liability “is NOT and will not be considered insurance for the cargo.” TForce: its Excess Declared Value Coverage “is NOT insurance.” If the freight is worth more than the carrier’s limit and you do not declare it, the gap is yours.
Some losses are excluded outright. TForce’s Item 166 rules out loss of profit, income, attorney fees and consequential damages, “whether or not Carrier knew or should have known.” If a late part stops a production line, the claim covers the part, not the line.
Refusing damaged freight
Refusing a damaged shipment does not end the carrier’s job or yours. Under 49 CFR 370.11, when damaged property is not delivered, or is refused, the carrier, after giving notice where practicable to the owner and others with an interest in it, must sell or dispose of it in a way that “will fairly and equally protect the best interests of all persons having an interest therein.” It has to keep an itemized record with a lot number, and on your claim it records the lot number, any money recovered and when that money was sent on. If you refuse, ask for the lot number and keep it with the claim.
If a broker arranged the move
The Carmack liability in 14706(a) sits on carriers: the receiving carrier, the delivering carrier and the carriers that move the freight. If you booked through a broker, get the name and MC number of the motor carrier that actually hauled the load, and the bill of lading it signed. Your claim is built on that carrier and that document. Your contract with the broker may add its own terms, so read that too.
A claim, step by step
- At delivery: inspect before signing, write specific exceptions on the delivery receipt (“2 cartons crushed, 1 pallet short”), and photograph the freight before it moves.
- Right after unpacking: if damage turns up after unpacking, notify the carrier inside its concealed damage window, keep the packaging, and allow the inspection.
- Build the file: bill of lading, delivery receipt, freight bill, commercial invoice, photos, repair estimate or proof of replacement cost.
- File in writing: identify the shipment, say the carrier is liable, and ask for a specific dollar amount. Send it to a proper carrier and keep proof of the date it was received.
- Track the clock: expect an acknowledgment in 30 days and an answer or a written status at 120 days, then every 60 days.
- If it is declined: the 2 year window to sue runs from the written disallowance. A compromise offer is not a disallowance unless the carrier says in writing which part is disallowed and why.
Before the next high value load
The time to deal with a claim is before the truck is loaded. Ask the carrier for the liability terms the shipment will move under, compare the cap to the invoice, and, if it falls short, declare value the way that carrier’s tariff requires or arrange cargo insurance. On a time critical load, also decide what a delay actually costs you, because a carrier’s tariff can exclude consequential losses, as the TForce tariff above does. For the trade offs between faster LTL options and a dedicated truck, see our guide to guaranteed LTL, or how our expedited shipping runs with a dedicated vehicle.