A possible claim

As TallJoe said they can. We are fighting a claim right now that the consignee accepted, they broke down all the pallets, checked all the products, took pictures then checked off their internal paper work as inspected and released to production then gave a copy of that to the driver, then signed it with a stamp saying "no damage, ok for production".

Three months later I get an settlement with a HUGE deduction on it, I called the carrier and they said that the customer reported damaged freight which took the entire run gross plus a little more and because the customer is putting in a huge claim $275k, they are back charging me for the deductible and other related costs. We are going to take the shipper and consignee to court over this, the consignee's inspection paper work and the stamped BOL counts as proof that there was no damage and it was accepted for their production run. In the investigation there was something raised about it being defective material from the shipper and it should not have gone out. BUT they both are dragging us into the fray between the supplier and the manufacturer so to recoup the costs involved. We are the easiest link in the chain that they can make a claim against. My lawyer is going after the consignee and the shipper both for damages, losses and the aggravation of dealing with a false claim.

 

^ This is why being a broker isn't as clean and easy as we would all like it to be. My sympathies Ridgeline... that sounds like an absolutely awful situation. I don't suppose you can disclose the customer legally? Seems to me that the larger logistics community needs to know who these people are so they can be avoided.

 

If he's smart he'll keep his mouth shut until after it's all settled.