Free Freight Claim Log

Under 370.3(b), a written communication from the claimant, filed with a proper carrier within the time limits in the bill of lading or contract of carriage, that contains facts sufficient to identify the shipment, asserts liability for the loss, damage, injury or delay, and makes claim for payment of a specified or determinable amount of money. 370.3(c) is explicit that a bad order report, a shortage or damage notation on a freight bill or delivery receipt, or a carrier inspection report, standing alone, is not sufficient — so the log should record when a real claim arrived, not when a damage note did.

370.5(b) requires the carrier, at the time the claim is received, to create a separate file, assign it a successive claim file number, note that number on every document filed in support of the claim and on all records and correspondence including the acknowledgement, and record the date of receipt on the face of the claim document — a date that also has to appear in the acknowledgement. The claim file number also goes on the shipping order and delivery receipt, unless the carrier instead keeps an orderly and consistent internal procedure of the kind 370.5(b)(1)–(3) describes.

370.9(a) gives 120 days from receipt to pay the claim, decline it, or make a firm compromise settlement offer, in writing. If the claim cannot be processed and disposed of in that time, the carrier advises the claimant in writing of the status and the reason for the delay at 120 days and at the expiration of each succeeding 60-day period the claim remains pending, retaining a copy of each such advice in the claim file.

No. 370.1 applies the part to claims for loss, damage, injury or delay to property transported or accepted for transportation in interstate or foreign commerce. A purely intrastate movement runs on state law and the contract of carriage instead, so check those before applying these clocks to it. Logging the receipt date either way is still how you prove when a claim arrived.