Friday, November 22, 2013

Typical Arguments made by Shippers


·        I’ve already paid once; therefore I should not have to pay again.

o   You hired this party and they are your agent.  You have a responsibility to deal with reputable brokers (CASE LAW).
o   Negligent Hiring argument
o   Broker acting as trustee of your money
o   Several cases support double payment
o   Equities weigh greatly in favor of the shipper paying again instead of the carrier getting stiffed.

·        We signed section 7 and therefore carrier has no recourse.
o   If prepaid, the terms contradict
o   Case law supports our position Jones v. Teledyne
o   Uniform bill of lading does not allow “prepaid” section 7 as a bar to recovery
o   Marking a bill prepaid and then claiming Section 7 non-recourse is equivalent to telling the shipper it can’t collect from either the shipper or the consignee/buyer.
o   There still exists a quasi-contract in that the carrier provided its services for the benefit of the shipper and/or consignee, conferred a benefit and yet did not get paid.

·        There’s a broker carrier agreement that bars recovery
o   Is it signed the Broker Carrier Agreement? By both parties??

o   Did individuals have the authority to sign the Agreement?

o   Does the BCA truly release shipper from liability?

o   Is the BC Agreement a valid agreement?

o   Is the BC Agreement enforceable?

o   Would the BC Agreement be admissible evidence in Court?

o   Is the BC Agreement even legal?


·        You have no jurisdiction to file suit.
o   We may not file where you think we are.
o   Your company has significant contacts
o   Interstate load and jurisdiction could be in several states (don’t tell where we are filing)

·        Your assignment is not valid
o   Assignment is a contract (shipper assumes that the assignment has to be in a certain form)
o   We will sue to enforce our assignment
o   Our client willingly and knowingly signed the agreement that gives us the right to act as a first party

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