Freight Claims in the United States: Preserve Evidence Before Arguing Liability

A freight claim is won or lost in the shipment record: condition, custody, notice, value, mitigation, and the correct mode-specific clock.

The first argument after freight is lost, short, wet, crushed, warm, or stolen is often about liability. That argument is premature.

Before anyone can decide who owes what, the claim file must establish what was tendered, its condition, who had custody, what arrived, when notice was given, how the loss was valued, and what happened to the remaining cargo. Those facts disappear quickly: packaging is discarded, a seal is cut without a record, temperature data is overwritten, a receiver signs clean, or damaged units are mixed into good inventory.

The operating rule is:

Preserve condition, custody, notice, value, and mitigation evidence first. Then apply the bill of lading, contract, tariff, statute, and mode-specific law.

That sequence is not anti-carrier or pro-shipper. It is what allows both parties to investigate a real event instead of negotiating against an incomplete story.

A delivery exception is not necessarily a freight claim

Three communications are routinely confused:

1. Delivery exception: notation on a proof of delivery or delivery receipt that freight was short or visibly damaged.
2. Incident notice: prompt message asking the carrier, broker, insurer, customer, or quality team to preserve records and participate in an inspection.
3. Formal claim: a written demand that satisfies the governing requirements and seeks a specified or determinable amount from the proper party.

For interstate motor-carrier and freight-forwarder claims within its scope, 49 CFR § 370.3 says a sufficient written claim must identify the shipment, assert liability, and demand a specified or determinable amount of money. A damage notation, inspection report, bad-order report, or appraisal does not satisfy those minimum requirements standing alone.

Use all three communications when appropriate. Note the exception at delivery, send immediate notice, and file the formal claim within the applicable period. Do not assume one substitutes for the others.

The receiving team controls the first evidence gate

The receiver does not need to decide legal liability at the dock. It does need to preserve observable facts.

Before breaking the seal or unloading

• verify shipment, trailer or container, and appointment identity;
• photograph exterior condition, doors, locks, and seal;
• compare the physical seal number with shipping documents and record any mismatch;
• preserve arrival, check-in, dock, and door-open timestamps;
• document odor, visible leakage, shifted load, puncture, impact, or security concerns;
• follow site safety, food-safety, hazmat, and security procedures before entering or handling freight.

During unloading and count

• segregate visibly affected freight;
• photograph cargo in place before rearranging it;
• count handling units and, where practicable, affected pieces by item or lot;
• record pallet pattern, bracing, dunnage, packaging failure, water paths, and load shift;
• retain labels, lot codes, serial numbers, and date codes;
• download temperature, humidity, shock, location, or trailer-unit data before it expires;
• note whether packaging concealed the condition;
• obtain the driver's acknowledgment of the exception without asking the driver to admit fault.

Before disposition

• notify the claims owner and product-quality owner;
• request carrier inspection under the applicable procedure;
• preserve the freight and packaging in a reasonable, secure condition;
• separate saleable, repairable, salvageable, contaminated, and destroyed units;
• do not discard, donate, rework, or sell cargo merely to clear dock space;
• record any urgent action required to protect people, product, property, or evidence.

The claimant also has a mitigation problem. Leaving wet product outdoors or allowing a refrigerated load to warm further can enlarge the loss. At the same time, destroying freight before the carrier can inspect can impair the investigation. The claims owner and qualified product owner should make and document the least-damaging reasonable decision available.

Build evidence for the legal questions, not just a photo folder

A strong file is organized around propositions that may need proof.

Photos should carry a shipment identifier, time, and context. Close-ups of torn cartons do not prove how many were tendered, where they sat, or whether the product inside was affected. For sealed freight, evidence of good origin condition may require manufacturing, inspection, loading, temperature, or inventory records rather than a generic clean bill of lading.

Identify the proper claimant and the proper respondent

The party that reports the loss is not automatically the party entitled to recover. The claim owner should determine:

• who owned or bore the cargo risk at the relevant time;
• who is named as shipper, consignee, or holder under the transport document;
• whether contract terms assign claim rights or administration;
• whether a cargo insurer has paid and acquired subrogation rights;
• whether another party has already filed a claim for the same loss;
• which carrier, freight forwarder, ocean carrier, air carrier, warehouse, or other custodian received the freight or issued the relevant document.

A freight broker may help administer a claim, but broker status does not by itself make the broker the cargo carrier or claimant. A 3PL label is similarly inconclusive. Determine the actual role using the UniteCargo guide to brokers, 3PLs, and freight forwarders.

Do not file duplicate demands with several parties without disclosure. For motor-carrier claims, 49 CFR § 370.3 specifically addresses conflicting or overlapping claims and the need to substantiate title or claim rights.

How to file a motor-freight claim that can be processed

For an ordinary interstate property claim against a motor carrier or covered freight forwarder, a useful submission package contains:

The formal demand

• claimant's legal name and contact;
• carrier claim portal or designated claims address;
• PRO, bill of lading, shipment, pickup, and delivery identifiers;
• origin, destination, ship date, and delivery date;
• concise description of loss, damage, injury, or delay;
• assertion that the carrier is liable;
• a specified or objectively determinable amount;
• claimant's interest in the cargo;
• remittance details supplied through a controlled channel.

Shipment and condition support

• bill of lading and delivery receipt;
• packing list, count, weight, and product identifiers;
• origin-condition and loading evidence;
• destination exceptions, photos, and inspection;
• seal and custody records;
• temperature or sensor records where relevant;
• correspondence about delay, refusal, reconsignment, or recovery.

Value and mitigation support

• original commercial invoice or other destination-value evidence;
• repair estimate, testing cost, or rework support;
• salvage bids and credits;
• inventory adjustment and disposition record;
• destruction certificate when destruction is necessary;
• explanation of the calculation, including deductions.

The regulation allows the carrier to require supporting documents when needed to investigate. 49 CFR § 370.7 identifies the bill of lading, freight-charge evidence, and invoice or other value evidence as relevant examples.

Do not inflate the claim with unsupported sales projections, internal allocations, or consequential costs. They may be unrecoverable and can distract from a supported actual-loss demand. Separate and substantiate any claimed special or consequential damages and obtain legal advice.

The Carmack clock is a floor on what the carrier may require—not permission to wait

For covered interstate motor-carrier and freight-forwarder transportation, the Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706, provides that a carrier may not set:

• less than nine months for filing a claim; or
• less than two years for bringing a civil action, measured from the carrier's written notice disallowing any part of the claim.

Those are statutory minimum periods the carrier may allow. The bill of lading or contract may use the nine-month and two-year periods, or may allow longer. The operational deadline is the actual governing deadline, not “Carmack always gives us nine months” as a reason to delay evidence collection.

Promptly investigate concealed damage. There is no substitute for checking the carrier's actual contract and rules; folklore about a universal “five-day rule” is not a reliable filing strategy. A clean delivery receipt can create an evidence problem, but under Part 370 a notation by itself would not have been a formal claim anyway.

Current motor-claim processing clocks

As reviewed July 27, 2026, 49 CFR Part 370 requires a covered carrier to:

• acknowledge a proper claim in writing within 30 days after receipt, unless it has paid or declined it in writing within that period;
• identify additional information found necessary in its preliminary review;
• create a separate claim file and claim number;
• promptly and thoroughly investigate;
• pay, decline, or make a firm written compromise offer within 120 days after receipt;
• if still unresolved, send written status and reason for delay at 120 days and every succeeding 60-day period.

These are carrier-processing requirements, not a promise that every claim will be paid within 120 days. The claimant should calendar its own contractual and litigation periods independently. A carrier's continuing investigation does not automatically extend them.

Liability is not the same as cargo insurance

Carrier liability asks what the carrier owes under the governing law and contract. Cargo insurance asks whether a policy covers the loss and pays under its own conditions. They can produce different answers.

An insurance certificate is not the carrier contract, and a policy limit is not a promise that the carrier is liable up to that amount. Conversely, a carrier's liability may not disappear simply because its insurer reserves rights or denies coverage.

For a conventional Carmack case, the Supreme Court's foundational formulation in *Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Elmore & Stahl* describes a shipper's prima facie case as delivery to the carrier in good condition, arrival in damaged condition, and the amount of damages. The burden framework and defenses are legal matters, and modern contracts, released-value provisions, commodities, and facts can change the analysis. The operations team should focus on producing credible evidence for each element.

Before tender—not after a loss—procurement should resolve:

• released or limited liability;
• declared-value process and added charge;
• prohibited or excluded commodities;
• packaging and loading responsibilities;
• concealed-damage procedures;
• claim venue and time limits;
• waiver provisions in negotiated transportation contracts;
• cargo-policy requirements and exclusions.

This belongs beside the motor-carrier vetting process, not in a claims postmortem.

Mode changes the claim

The most dangerous claims template is one that treats every shipment as interstate motor freight.

Rail

49 U.S.C. § 11706 contains the rail-carrier liability framework and, like § 14706, prohibits a claim period shorter than nine months and a civil-action period shorter than two years from written disallowance. Rail contracts can include written value limitations or agreed deductions within the statute's framework. Preserve waybills, car events, loading and securement records, interchange, seals, temperature data, and railroad exception records.

International ocean

The U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act is preserved as a note to 46 U.S.C. § 30701. The statutory text published by GovInfo states, among other things, that apparent loss or damage notice should be given before or at removal and non-apparent loss or damage notice within three days; it also contains a one-year suit period and a $500-per-package or customary-freight-unit limitation unless value is declared, subject to its text and the bill of lading.

Ocean claims are not safely reduced to those three numbers. Package definition, COGSA's period of application, through bills, contract clauses, jurisdiction, and damage location can be decisive. Escalate significant losses early.

International air

Where the Montreal Convention applies, it provides a distinct liability and notice regime. The U.S. treaty document published by GovInfo includes the Convention's written-complaint periods and two-year action period. Domestic air carriage and non-Convention moves may instead depend heavily on the air waybill and tariff.

Warehousing

Warehouse liability typically turns on the warehouse receipt or storage agreement, applicable state law, and facts about care and custody. Uniform Commercial Code § 7-204, as adopted and potentially modified by the relevant state, addresses a warehouse's duty of care and contractual limitation of damages. Confirm the enacted state text and agreement rather than citing the model UCC as though it were the controlling state statute.

Intermodal and through movements

Damage discovered after a container, trailer, or pallet moved through several modes creates a custody problem before it creates a liability answer. Preserve every interchange, seal, transload, delivery, and condition record. Identify which document purports to govern the through movement and obtain advice before assuming Carmack, COGSA, state law, or a mode-specific convention controls the entire route.

Salvage is part of the claim, not dock cleanup

Damaged property can retain value. The claimant should not receive both full undamaged value and undisclosed salvage proceeds.

Under 49 CFR § 370.11, covered carriers processing salvage must protect interested parties, identify and record the property, and connect proceeds to the claim file. A claimant should likewise document:

• who authorized disposition;
• why sale, repair, donation, destruction, or return was appropriate;
• bids or market support;
• brand, safety, warranty, or regulatory restrictions;
• quantities and identifiers;
• proceeds and costs;
• chain of custody through final disposition.

Food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, consumer-branded goods, and safety-critical parts may require qualified review before salvage. “Unsaleable to our customer” does not automatically mean worthless; “has salvage value” does not automatically mean the product may legally or safely re-enter commerce.

A claims ledger that keeps clocks visible

Maintain one record per incident with:

• mode and governing document;
• claimant and respondent;
• pickup, delivery, discovery, notice, formal-claim, acknowledgment, and disallowance dates;
• contractual claim and suit deadlines;
• claimed, reserved, recovered, and salvaged amounts;
• evidence-completeness status;
• carrier claim number and insurer reference;
• inspection and disposition status;
• current owner and next action;
• root cause and prevention action.

Do not close the operational loop at settlement. If repeated claims trace to pallet overhang, weak packaging, an unverified seal process, a particular cross-dock, or a temperature specification that dispatch cannot execute, assign a corrective owner and due date.

The operating takeaway

A credible freight claim can answer:

1. What did the carrier or custodian receive?
2. What was its condition at origin and destination?
3. Where did custody change?
4. What written communication qualifies as the formal claim?
5. How was the amount calculated and mitigated?
6. Which document and legal regime control the clock and liability?

If those answers are still being reconstructed when the denial arrives, the claims process started too late. It starts at shipment design and receiving, not at accounts receivable.

This article provides operational education, not legal advice. Cargo claims are fact-specific and may involve federal law, state law, international conventions, contracts, tariffs, and insurance policies. Consult qualified counsel promptly for significant, contested, time-sensitive, or multimodal losses.

Sources and further reading

• 49 CFR Part 370: Motor-carrier and freight-forwarder cargo-claim processing
• 49 U.S.C. § 14706: Motor-carrier and freight-forwarder liability
• 49 U.S.C. § 11706: Rail-carrier liability
• GovInfo: U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act text at 46 U.S.C. § 30701 note
• U.S. Supreme Court: *Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Elmore & Stahl*
• GovInfo: Montreal Convention of 1999, U.S. Senate Treaty Document 106-45
• Uniform Commercial Code § 7-204: Duty of care and contractual limitation