How long do I have to file a freight claim?

At least nine months from delivery, or from the date the shipment should have been delivered. That is a floor set by 49 U.S.C. 14706(e): a carrier cannot contract for less, though it may allow more, so check your bill of lading. Concealed damage is the exception that catches people, because the tariff usually gives you days rather than months to report something found after opening the carton.

Is writing an exception on the delivery receipt the same as filing a claim?

No, and this is the single most expensive misunderstanding in freight. 49 CFR 370.3(c) says explicitly that bad order reports, inspection reports and notations of shortage or damage on freight bills or delivery receipts do not, standing alone, meet the claim filing requirements. The exception is your evidence. The claim is a separate written document you still have to send.

What has to be in a freight claim for it to count?

Three things, under 49 CFR 370.3(b): facts sufficient to identify the shipment, an assertion that the carrier is liable, and a demand for a specified or determinable amount of money. Most of what people send is an email describing the damage. That does the first, part of the second, and none of the third, which is why it can sit for months and then be refused as never having been a claim at all.

How long does the carrier have to respond?

Thirty days to acknowledge your claim in writing under 49 CFR 370.5, and a hundred and twenty days to pay it, decline it, or make a firm compromise offer in writing under 49 CFR 370.9. If they cannot decide inside a hundred and twenty days they owe you a written status update then, and another every sixty days while it stays open.

How long do I have to sue if the claim is refused?

At least two years, and the clock starts when the carrier tells you in writing that it is disallowing part or all of the claim, not at delivery. An offer of compromise is not a disallowance unless the carrier says in writing which part it is refusing and why. Keep the refusal letter, because it is what dates the deadline.

How long do I have to report concealed damage?

Whatever the carrier's tariff says, which is commonly somewhere between five and fifteen days from delivery. This one is not set by regulation, so the honest answer is to read your own bill of lading and the carrier's published rules rather than trust a number from a website. Report it the day you find it, keep the packaging, and ask for an inspection before anything is moved.

Who files the claim, the shipper or the consignee?

Whoever suffered the loss, which usually means whoever owned the goods at the moment they were damaged, and that follows the freight terms. Under FOB origin the buyer owns them in transit and files. Under FOB destination the seller does. If the terms are unclear, file anyway and sort out ownership afterwards, because the nine month clock does not pause while you work it out.

Free tool · Freight claims

Your deadlines, and the letter that meets them.

Put in the delivery date and you get the real dates: when to file, what the carrier owes you and by when, and how long you have to sue. Then a claim letter carrying all three things the regulation requires, which is where most claims quietly fail.

Date of delivery

Or the date it should have arrived.What went wrong

Carrier

Pro number

Bill of lading no.

Your PO number

Amount claimed

A specific figure. This is the element most claims are missing.What was in the shipment

Your company

Your name and title

Nothing here is sent anywhere. The letter below is built in your browser as you type.

Put in the delivery date and the deadlines appear here.

Your claim letter

Carries all three things 49 CFR § 370.3(b) requires. Fill the blanks above and print it.

[Your company]
January 1, 1970

[Carrier]
Claims Department

Freight loss and damage claim: Pro [pro number]

This is a claim under 49 U.S.C. § 14706 in respect of the shipment identified above, delivered on [date of delivery]. The shipment consisted of [description of the goods].

We assert that [carrier] is liable for concealed damage discovered on opening the packaging after delivery. The damage was not visible at delivery and was found on opening the packaging. It was reported to you in writing on discovery, the packaging has been retained, and the supporting documents are enclosed.

We claim the sum of $[amount], being the value of the goods lost or damaged together with the freight charges attributable to them. Documentation of that figure is enclosed.

Enclosed in support of this claim:

The bill of lading and the delivery receipt.
The supplier’s invoice evidencing the value of the goods.
The freight bill.
Photographs taken when the damage was discovered, with the packaging retained.
A copy of the written notice reporting the damage on discovery.

We should be grateful for your written acknowledgement within 30 days as required by 49 CFR § 370.5, and for your decision within 120 days as required by 49 CFR § 370.9.

Yours faithfully,

[Your name and title]
[Your company]

The thing most claims get wrong

An email about damage is not a claim

People miss the nine months far less often than they assume. What actually happens is that eight of those months go by in emails and phone calls that never legally constituted a claim, and the refusal, when it finally comes, is on that ground.

49 CFR § 370.3(b) sets three requirements, and all three have to be present in one written communication:

01
Facts sufficient to identify the shipment
The pro number, the bill of lading number, the date. Enough that the carrier can find it without asking you.
02
An assertion that the carrier is liable
Not a question, not a request to look into it. A statement that they are responsible for the loss.
03
A demand for a specified or determinable amount
A figure. This is the one almost everybody omits, and the regulation is explicit that a claim for an uncertain amount such as “$100 more or less” does not oblige the carrier to pay anything.

And the part that surprises people who did everything right at the bay: the exception you wrote on the delivery receipt is not a claim. § 370.3(c) says so directly, naming bad order reports, inspection reports and notations of shortage or damage on freight bills and delivery receipts. That note is your evidence, and it is the difference between winning and losing. It is not the filing.

15 days: Note the damage on the delivery receipt
30 days: Carrier must acknowledge the claim
120 days: Carrier must pay, deny or explain
9 months: Last day to file at all

The four clocks on one scale, in days from delivery. Nine months is the floor, not the schedule: the two that actually catch people are the first two marks, and they start the moment somebody opens a carton.

Four clocks, running at different speeds

Clock	Length	Starts	Set by
Report concealed damage	Commonly 5 to 15 days	Delivery	The carrier's tariff, not the regulation
File the written claim	At least 9 months	Delivery, or when it should have arrived	49 U.S.C. § 14706(e), a floor
Carrier acknowledges	30 days	Their receipt of your claim	49 CFR § 370.5
Carrier decides	120 days	Their receipt of your claim	49 CFR § 370.9
Bring a civil action	At least 2 years	Their written disallowance	49 U.S.C. § 14706(e), a floor

Notice which rows say floor. Nine months and two years are minimums a carrier is forbidden from shortening, so your bill of lading may give you longer and never less. The concealed damage row is the opposite: nothing federal sets it, the carrier writes it, and it is the shortest and least forgiving of the five.

Notice also where the two year clock starts. Not at delivery, which is what almost everybody assumes. It starts on the day the carrier tells you in writing that it is refusing part or all of the claim, so that letter is the one to keep.

What you can actually get back

Filing on time settles whether the claim is heard. It does not settle what it is worth, and the gap between the two is where the disappointment lives.

A carrier’s liability is commonly limited by a released value in its tariff, expressed per pound. A pallet of machined components at forty dollars a pound settles like a pallet of anything else at whatever the released rate says, unless the shipper declared a value in writing on the bill of lading before it moved. That declaration is made at the moment of shipping and cannot be added afterwards.

Which is the argument for looking at your own bills of lading before you ever need this page. The declared value box on the bill of lading is the cheapest insurance in freight, and it is blank on most of them.

What to send with it

49 CFR § 370.7 lets the carrier require the documents that establish the loss and its value. Sending them with the claim rather than waiting to be asked removes the easiest reason to stall it.

The bill of lading and the signed delivery receipt

Specifically the copy carrying the exception, if one was noted. This is what makes the loss the carrier's rather than yours.

The supplier's invoice

Evidence of what the goods were worth. Where the goods were never invoiced to you, expect to be asked to establish destination value another way.

The freight bill

Evidence of the charges, part of what you are claiming back.

Photographs, taken at the bay

Not required by the regulation and worth more than most things that are. A timestamped photograph beside a written exception is close to unarguable.

This describes how the rules generally work in the United States and links to the primary sources so you can read them yourself. It is not legal advice, and your contract with a carrier can change the detail. For money that matters, ask a lawyer.

Questions

How long do I have to file a freight claim?: At least nine months from delivery, or from the date the shipment should have been delivered. That is a floor set by 49 U.S.C. 14706(e): a carrier cannot contract for less, though it may allow more, so check your bill of lading. Concealed damage is the exception that catches people, because the tariff usually gives you days rather than months to report something found after opening the carton.
Is writing an exception on the delivery receipt the same as filing a claim?: No, and this is the single most expensive misunderstanding in freight. 49 CFR 370.3(c) says explicitly that bad order reports, inspection reports and notations of shortage or damage on freight bills or delivery receipts do not, standing alone, meet the claim filing requirements. The exception is your evidence. The claim is a separate written document you still have to send.
What has to be in a freight claim for it to count?: Three things, under 49 CFR 370.3(b): facts sufficient to identify the shipment, an assertion that the carrier is liable, and a demand for a specified or determinable amount of money. Most of what people send is an email describing the damage. That does the first, part of the second, and none of the third, which is why it can sit for months and then be refused as never having been a claim at all.
How long does the carrier have to respond?: Thirty days to acknowledge your claim in writing under 49 CFR 370.5, and a hundred and twenty days to pay it, decline it, or make a firm compromise offer in writing under 49 CFR 370.9. If they cannot decide inside a hundred and twenty days they owe you a written status update then, and another every sixty days while it stays open.
How long do I have to sue if the claim is refused?: At least two years, and the clock starts when the carrier tells you in writing that it is disallowing part or all of the claim, not at delivery. An offer of compromise is not a disallowance unless the carrier says in writing which part it is refusing and why. Keep the refusal letter, because it is what dates the deadline.
How long do I have to report concealed damage?: Whatever the carrier's tariff says, which is commonly somewhere between five and fifteen days from delivery. This one is not set by regulation, so the honest answer is to read your own bill of lading and the carrier's published rules rather than trust a number from a website. Report it the day you find it, keep the packaging, and ask for an inspection before anything is moved.
Who files the claim, the shipper or the consignee?: Whoever suffered the loss, which usually means whoever owned the goods at the moment they were damaged, and that follows the freight terms. Under FOB origin the buyer owns them in transit and files. Under FOB destination the seller does. If the terms are unclear, file anyway and sort out ownership afterwards, because the nine month clock does not pause while you work it out.

Sources

0149 U.S.C. § 14706: Liability of carriers under receipts and bills of lading · U.S. CodeThe Carmack Amendment. Subsection (e) sets the nine month and two year floors a carrier cannot contract below.
0249 CFR § 370.3: Filing of claims · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThe three things a claim must contain, and the statement that a shortage note on a delivery receipt is not one of them.
0349 CFR § 370.5: Acknowledgment of claims · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThirty days to acknowledge a claim in writing.
0449 CFR § 370.9: Disposition of claims · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsA hundred and twenty days to pay, decline or make a firm offer, then a written status update every sixty days.
0549 CFR § 370.7: Investigation of claims · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsWhat the carrier may require in support, including a certified statement on a claim for a whole shipment.

Every one of these clocks starts at a delivery, and every one of them needs a record of what actually arrived. DockCount keeps that record against the order it was placed on, with the photographs attached. Free for 25 deliveries a month.

Create a free account The bill of lading this all rests on