The lines are blurring between motor carriers and freight brokers. How many entities are billing themselves as “logistics” providers,” or “3pl’s?” How many of them also run truck lines? How many are true freight forwarders or, even more rare, NVOCCs?
As a threshold matter, these logistic titles mean nothing, legally. It is critical to determine whether a participant in a transport movement was acting as a carrier or as a broker in relation to the particular shipment that may be damaged or lost. That’s what a court is supposed to look for. But courts cannot always determine whether an entity’s role in the shipment was as a carrier or as a broker, so they need some guidance. If a company acts as a broker, its liability for damaged or lost cargo may be determined by the law of the state, generally negligent entrustment, which is rare; if it is acting as a motor carrier, the process of the Carmack Amendment applies, 49 U.S.C. 14706 under which liability is near absolute, except for certain defenses and the skill of your lawyer.