Moving Company Damage Claim Letter (Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706 + State Tiers)

Liability for an interstate household-goods move is federal, not state, law. The governing statute is the Carmack Amendment, codified at 49 U.S.C. § 14706. Section 14706(a) makes the carrier "liable to the person entitled to recover under the receipt or bill of lading" for "the actual loss or injury to the property" — and it imposes that liability on the receiving carrier, the delivering carrier, and any carrier in between. The practical effect is that you do not have to prove the mover was negligent. Courts apply a burden-shifting rule: the shipper makes a prima facie case by showing the goods were tendered to the carrier in good condition, were delivered damaged or short, and the amount of damages; the burden then shifts to the carrier to prove it was free from negligence and that the loss was due to an excepted cause. Because it is federal, the Carmack Amendment generally preempts state-law claims (breach of contract, negligence, conversion) for loss or damage to goods in interstate transit, so the demand should be framed in Carmack terms.

How much you can recover depends on the valuation option you chose, which the FMCSA's household-goods rules in 49 CFR Part 375 require the mover to offer in writing. The default is Full Value Protection: under 49 CFR 375.201, the carrier's "normal liability" is for the goods "in an amount equal to the replacement value of the household goods," up to the declared value of the shipment. A shipper can trade that down for a lower price: 49 CFR 375.203 lets you waive Full Value Protection in writing in exchange for Released Value, under which the carrier is liable for only 60 cents per pound per article (the regulation states the figure as "60 cents per pound ($1.32 per kilogram) per article"). The catch with Released Value is severe — a 50-pound television is worth $30, period. The statutory hook for this two-tier system is 49 U.S.C. § 14706(c), which permits a carrier to limit liability "to a value established by written or electronic declaration of the shipper or by written agreement" so long as that value is reasonable. The lesson for the letter: read which box you initialed on the bill of lading, because it dictates whether you claim replacement value or pennies-per-pound.

The claims process itself is regulated on a strict timeline by 49 CFR Part 370 ("Principles and Practices for the Investigation and Voluntary Disposition of Loss and Damage Claims"). First, your claim must be valid: 49 CFR 370.3 requires a written communication that identifies the shipment, asserts carrier liability, and demands a "specified or determinable amount of money" — a photo or a phone call is not a claim. Once the carrier receives a valid claim, 49 CFR 370.5 requires it to acknowledge receipt in writing within 30 days (unless it pays or declines within that window). Then 49 CFR 370.9 requires the carrier to "pay, decline, or make a firm compromise settlement offer in writing" within 120 days of receipt; if it can't resolve the claim in 120 days, it must explain in writing why and give status updates every 60 days while the claim is pending. These deadlines are the spine of the demand — quoting them tells the claims adjuster you know the carrier is on a federal clock. Separately, 49 U.S.C. § 14706(e) is the outer guardrail on the shipper's side: a carrier may not contractually shorten the period to file a claim to less than 9 months, nor the period to bring a civil action to less than 2 years from the date the carrier disallows the claim.

All of the above applies only to interstate moves — where the origin and destination are in different states. For an intrastate move (both ends in the same state), the Carmack Amendment does not apply and state law governs, typically through a public utilities commission, the state DOT, or a consumer-protection agency, plus the tariff the mover is required to file. The frameworks vary widely. California regulates movers under the Household Movers Act, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 19225 et seq., enforced by the Bureau of Household Goods and Services within the Department of Consumer Affairs (authority transferred from the CPUC by SB 19, effective 2018). Florida's Chapter 507, Fla. Stat. (the moving-services statute, § 507.02(2)) covers moves "originating in this state and terminating in this state" and is enforced by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Texas regulates intrastate movers through the Department of Motor Vehicles under Tex. Transp. Code Ch. 643 and 43 Tex. Admin. Code Ch. 218. New York licenses intrastate movers through the NYS Department of Transportation, which requires every mover to file a tariff. Illinois regulates household-goods movers through the Illinois Commerce Commission under the Illinois Commercial Transportation Law, 625 ILCS 5/18c-4201 et seq. The everywhere-else default: find your state's mover-licensing agency, get the carrier's filed tariff, and follow its claims rules — most mirror the 9-month/replacement-value logic of the federal scheme.