Issuance of bills of lading and use of a National Motor Freight Classification® bill of lading and class limitation is detrimental to the shipper’s motion for summary judgment on liability.

A shipment of 26 lots of pre-paid cellular phones for delivery to a retail chain’s various locations across the country were stolen during a driver’s stop. NFI and its insurer sued the carrier for $212,861.55, the value of the stolen phones, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The carrier moved for summary judgment, arguing its liability was limited to $15,678.00 under the terms of the issued bills of lading, a National Motor Freight Classification® (NMFC®) bill of lading that incorporated an NMFC class limiting liability to $3.00 per pound. Of interest was the fact that the bills of lading were issued by the shipper, NFI, not the carrier, Kutzler.

Allianz and Kutzler argued that the NMFC class reference was irrelevant because neither NFI nor Kutzler were members of the NMFC. The District Court dismissed this argument as being of no concern to the court. Instead, the court denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the only issue for the court was whether NFI was offered and agreed to a limit of liability by Kutzler as required under the Carmack Amendment. In denying the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, the court found there was an issue of fact because the shipper issued the bills of lading using the NMFC classification.

_{Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2016}

_{Case Law Alerts is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2016 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}