Opinion ID: 768826
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bill of Lading Issue

Text: 10 The Board requires the issuance of a receipt or bill of lading containing certain information for all interstate or foreign shipments by motor carrier. See 49 C.F.R. S 373.101. Although motor carriers are not required to use the Uniform Straight Bill of Lading prescribed for rail and water common carriers, see 49 C.F.R. S 1035.1(a), the parties here have adapted it for their purposes, see 49 C.F.R.S 1035 apps. A & B. The bill of lading is the basic transportation contract between the shipper-consignor and the carrier; its terms and conditions bind the shipper and all connecting carriers. See Southern Pac., 456 U.S. at 342 (citation omitted). 5 The bill of lading provides that the owner or consignee shall pay the freight and all other lawful charges upon the transported property and that the consignor remains liable to the carrier for all lawful charges. 6 See Illinois Steel Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R., 320 U.S. 508, 512-13 (1944). The bill of lading, however, also contains nonrecourse and prepaid provisions that, if marked by the parties, release the consignor and consignee from liability for the freight charges. If the nonrecourse clause is signed by the consignor and no provision is made for the payment of freight, delivery of the shipment to the consignee relieves the consignor of liability. See id. at 513, 64 S.Ct.322. Similarly, when the prepaid provision on the bill of lading has been marked and the consignee has already paid its bill to the consignor, the consignee is not liable to the carrier for payment of the freight charges. See Missouri Pac. R.R. Co. v. National Milling Co., 409 F.2d 882, 883-84 (3d Cir. 1969); In re Penn-Dixie Steel Corp., 6 B.R. 817, 822 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 1980), aff'd 10 B.R. 878 (S.D.N.Y. 1981). 11 Although the bill of lading contains default terms allocating liability for freight charges, the Supreme Court's description of the bill of lading as the basic transportation contract between the shipper-consignor and the carrier, Southern Pacific, 456 U.S. at 342, did not purport to characterize the bill of lading as the exclusive means of creating a contract. A-Transport Northwest Co. v. United States, 36 F.3d 1576, 1583 (Fed. Cir. 1994). Subject to the rule that prohibits discrimination, the parties are free to contract when or by whom the freight charges should be paid. See Louisville & Nashville R.R. v. Central Iron & Coal Co., 265 U.S. 59, 66 (1924); Illinois Steel Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R., 320 U.S. 508, 512 (1944). It is only where the parties fail to agree or where discriminatory practices are present that the ICA's default terms bind the parties. See In re Roll Form Products, Inc., 662 F.2d 150, 154 (2d Cir. 1981). In the face of other provisions, the liability allocation presumptions on the bill of lading are unnecessary. See Fikse & Co. v. United States, 23 Cl. Ct. 200, 204 (1991). 12 Clearly, the ICA's purpose of eliminating all forms of rate discrimination on interstate shipments is not implicated in this case. There is no allegation that the freight terms agreed to by the parties improperly deviate from filed common carrier tariffs or discriminate. Because an external contract, entered into by the Carriers, lawfully allocated liability for the freight charges, resort to the allocation presumptions on the bill of lading is unnecessary. The waivers signed by the drivers lawfully operated to waive the Carriers' rights against Appellees for the freight charges.