Please. If you think you've hurt my feelings, then you obviously haven't been paying attention in all those years you've been reading this board.

Whether you were hauling directly for a shipper or were hauling for a broker is irrelevant. First off, you should have had a contract in place prior to picking up the load. Secondly, your bill of lading that the shipper provided should have had the consignee's information on it, or it wasn't a proper bill of lading (DOT would have had fun with you at the scale had they seen it). There's very little you did right in this entire load. You have no legal recourse if there's no contract in place. If you try to sell the freight, you could be arrested for stealing, which will most likely be a felony.

And no, you never said it was shipper direct. You said you "booked a load with a shipper." That could mean any number of things. Why anyone would put freight on a trailer without a contract in place is beyond me.

 

Scroll down past Section 14707, starting on page 10...

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/spanish/pdfs/HOSTAGE.PDF



I would say that in the absence of a signed contract the BOL would serve as the contract. You have the right to a possesary lien if the conditions of the load changed in transit.


Not a lawyer, just my opinion.

 

Section 14101 (b)(1):

A carrier providing transportation or service subject to jurisdiction under chapter 135 may enter into a contract with a shipper, other than for the movement of household goods described in section 13102 (10)(a), to provide specified services under specified rates and conditions. If the shipper and carrier, in writing, expressly waive and or all rights and remedies under this part for the transportation covered by the contract, the transportation provided by the contract shall not be subject to the waived rights and remedies and shall not be challenged on the ground that it violates such waived rights and remedies.

Furthermore, going to page 10, it states that under section 14706 (b) that a carrier MUST provide transportation and service upon reasonable request. If a carrier attempts to steal freight for their own gain (selling the freight), that carrier can be fined and imprisoned for up to 10 years.

So to make a long story short, one CAN hold a load hostage to demand payment on THAT load, but one CANNOT sell that load to pay the charges for that load. One also CANNOT demand compensation outside the realm of the agreed upon contract. Since the OP had no agreed upon contract that spelled out the terms of the transportation of the goods, he cannot legally attempt to enforce provisions of that nonexistent contract. I do agree that the BOL would serve as a contract; however, I doubt the BOL states the terms of the contract very well, since it clearly wasn't even a legal BOL, as it didn't have the consignee listed on it.

 

I agree that the DOT would have some nasty things to say about an incomplete BOL. But this is a civil matter. Even the FMCSA says they have no jurisdiction over this type of disagreement. Even an incomplete BOL proves that there was a meeting of the minds, a rate was agreed upon, and the freight was tendered to the carrier. Prima Facie evidence. All a judge has to do is ask both parties what the particulars were, and go from there.

 

And with no written contract in place, it becomes one party's word against the other's. I doubt the shipper would deny that the OP was hired to haul a load (since the freight was on his trailer, after all). But I also doubt that the BOL will provide any particulars regarding the terms of the agreement. Normally, they don't.

 

Perhaps the OP could use the BOL as evidence of a two party contract and provide evidence of what the going rate is of such a haul and ask the court through reasonableness, to compensate at that rate because there is lack of documented terms.

Realistically, it will take for freaking ever to get the matter resolved through our court systems.

 

I always thought verbal contracts were binding, but the Rev is 100% right on this.

My current dispatcher, who happens to own the company, regularly sends me to pick up loads without telling me where they are going. He also doesn't like to bother with things like load numbers, telephone numbers, addresses and other annoying little details- "Just tell them it's 2X6 rough merch"

Spell check and clarity in ones posts are very important IMHO

 

Verbal contracts are binding, but they are difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.

 

On a BOL the "carrier of record" would hold rights. If there is no carrier(a requirement) or the broker was carrier of record they would hold the rights. Again third party laws would also apply.

 

If the OP is still here...

If it were me, I would off-load at a bonded warehouse, and I wouldn't have waited 10 days. Notify the shipper in writing that as soon as the original freight charge, plus a REASONABLE amount for detention is paid I would release my possessary lien on his freight. If he refuses, then I would think that you will have to get a court order allowing you to sell the freight. What good is a lien if, ultimately, the freight can't be sold to satisfy a legitimate claim?