How to hijack freight and get paid

The Uniform Bills of Lading Act, a federal statute (49 U.S.C. §§ 80101 et seq.) and particularly 49 U.S.C. § 80110 gives a common carrier a lien on the goods being transported to enforce collection of freight charges for that shipment. It states in relevant part that ". . . the carrier must deliver goods covered by a bill of lading on demand of the consignee named in a nonnegotiable bill or the holder of a negotiable bill for the goods when the consignee or holder--(1) offers in good faith to satisfy the lien of the carrier on the goods. . . ." The Uniform Commercial Code provision which applies to intrastate shipments is substantially similar. See for example California Commercial Code § 7403.



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Under the Interstate Commerce Act and now the ICC Termination Act found at 49 U.S.C. § 13707(a) ". . . a carrier providing transportation or service subject to jurisdiction under this part shall give up possession at the destination of the property transported by it only when payment for the transportation or services is made." The statute does provide exceptions and permits the extension of credit under regulations issued by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation. The ICC's credit regulations contained at 49 C.F.R. Part 1320 remain in effect.

 

Every case is different and in each case you have to be careful that you dont get yourself in trouble.

In my story, I only had to mention to the broker that I would take a lien unless they took care of my accessorial charges. Let me point out that threatening a lien is not the same as actually taking one. If you threaten a broker with possible action and they respond, well then you have achieved your goal WITHOUT taking a lot of risk.

In my situations the BROKERS responded because I believe they knew that if i did lien the shipments, that there was a legitimate reason and THAT is the reason why things got resolved. I have been told by counsel that for a formal lein to be recognized, a formal communication to the effect has to be submitted. A threat of lien does not constitute the carrier taking a lien, but it can get things resolved.

My point is this. Carriers need to understand these laws and their rights.

Knowing when and where it may be appropriate to throw out the possibility will get the ball moving in most cases and things will get resolved before anything "legal" actually takes place. If things get real ugly, I would recommend talking to your attorney BEFORE ever doing something like actually off loading cargo into storage.

I should also point out that I never did anything with respect to these situations WITHOUT also contacting the shipper and receiver and letting them know the status of the shipment. In my case, the shippers and receivers told me to handle it with the broker and they CLEARLY did not want to get involved.

 

I believe that it is still considered a federal code or law. I called it a federal statute and that is INCORRECT. It is simply a federal law or code.


You are correct sir, and I stand corrected. BTW did I mention that I am NOT an attorney?

 

I have and in my situations I felt I had the right to take a lein but I never really had to. The simple threat of going down that road got things resolved with the brokers.

I totally agree on getting advise. I did this in both cases with my collection company. They have attorneys who work primarily on collections but they gave me some advice on how to proceed.