Court Opinion

ID: 9482358
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:47:40.66321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:55.988196
License: Public Domain

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,
with whom EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge,
joins, dissenting:
The difficulty with the majority opinion is that it is not grounded in the statutory language.
Under the statutory scheme, a motor carrier is authorized to limit its liability for damages to goods in shipment to the amount of the shipper declared value, provided only that the following three conditions are met:
(1) there must be a “written declaration of the shipper” or “a written agreement” specifying the limited liability value;
(2) there must be a filed tariff establishing a rate for the limited liability value;
(3) it is required that the “value would be reasonable under the circumstances surrounding the transportation.”1
*1086Nothing in the statute (nor in any regulation cited to us) says that the referenced written declaration or agreement must be either a bill of lading, or in a form specified in a tariff. Indeed, the majority opinion implicitly recognizes that there is no such requirement.
The majority nevertheless holds for the shipper as a matter of law on the ground that the carrier failed the case law requirement that the shipper have had “a reasonable opportunity to choose between two or more levels of liability.” Hughes v. United Van Lines, Inc., 829 F.2d 1407, 1415 (7th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 913, 108 S.Ct. 1068, 99 L.Ed.2d 248 (1988). This judicial requirement obviously rests on the statutory provision that the limited value “be reasonable under the circumstances surrounding the transportation.” That requirement, to which shipper sophistication or its absence has obvious potential relevance, cannot fairly be understood as always mandating some particular specified form for the necessary written declaration or agreement.
Here the bill of lading, signed by the shipper’s agent, contained a clear and express provision stating that the declared value was $5,000 a ton and that the carrier’s liability was so limited unless a greater value were declared. This provision appeared almost immediately above the place for the shipper’s signature on the bill of lading. The panel majority held that a sophisticated, commercial shipper would be bound by this language if he knew or should have known that he could declare a higher value (and pay a correspondingly higher rate), notwithstanding that the bill of lading did not have a special blank for the shipper to write in a higher declared value, as the carrier’s tariff called for it to have.
This is a simple suit between the immediate parties — shipper and carrier — to shipment on a nonnegotiable bill of lading. Nothing more is involved or presented. In such a case, it seems wholly unremarkable to hold someone to the clear and express terms of his written agreement, which does not violate and is expressly authorized by the statute, when that party is sophisticated and understands the agreement and the options available to him.
Neither the statutory language, nor any reported decision cited by the majority, support its contrary holding. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

. 49 U.S.C. § 10730 provides in relevant part:
“(a) The Interstate Commerce Commission may require or authorize a carrier ... to establish rates for transportation of property under which the liability of the carrier for that property is limited to a value established by written declaration of the shipper, or by a written agreement, when that value would be reasonable under the circumstances surrounding the transportation_”
“(b)(1) ... [A] motor common carrier ... may, subject to the provisions of this chapter (including, with respect to a motor carrier, the general tariff requirements of section 10762 of this title), establish rates for the transportation of property (other than household goods) under which the liability of the *1086carrier or freight forwarder for such property is limited to a value established by written declaration of the shipper or by written agreement between the carrier or freight forwarder and shipper if that value would be reasonable under the circumstances surrounding the transportation.”
49 U.S.C. § 10762(a)(1) provides in relevant part: "A motor common carrier shall publish and file with the Commission tariffs containing the rates for transportation it may provide under this subtitle. The Commission may prescribe other information that motor common carriers shall include in their tariffs.”
49 U.S.C. § 11707(a)(1) provides for liability of the carrier for damage to the property, and § 11707(c) provides in relevant part:
"(c)(1) A common carrier and freight forwarder may not limit or be exempt from liability imposed under subsection (a) of this section except as provided in this subsection. ...
"(4) A common carrier may limit its liability for loss or injury of property transported under section 10730 of this title.”