What Is the Carmack Amendment?

The Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. section 14706, is the federal statute that governs a motor carrier's liability for loss or damage to cargo moving in interstate commerce. It makes the carrier that issued the bill of lading, and any delivering carrier, liable for the actual loss or injury to the property, without the shipper having to prove negligence.

Carmack's power cuts both ways. For shippers, it creates near strict liability: a prima facie case requires only proof that the goods were delivered to the carrier in good condition, arrived damaged or not at all, and the amount of damages. The carrier then must prove both its own freedom from negligence and that the loss came from an excepted cause such as an act of God, the shipper's own fault, or the inherent vice of the goods. For carriers, Carmack preempts virtually all state law claims arising from cargo loss, sweeping away fraud, negligence, and consumer claims and channeling everything into the federal scheme, with its released value limitations and short claim deadlines.

Bills of lading typically require written claims within nine months and suit within two years and a day after a claim is denied, so cargo disputes reward speed. Stolen loads, double brokering losses, and refused shipments all get analyzed through this framework.