Transportation Damages Don't Automatically Include Lost Profits, Says Houston Federal Court

Lost profits shouldn’t be added to damages for losses during transportation unless a specific contractual provision requires it, ruled a federal district court in Houston on Jan. 2. Maass Flange argued it should be able to recover lost profits that resulted from a boring mill it imported from Canada being damaged while being transported to its facility in Texas. Totran Transportation was moving the boring mill by truck when it hit an overpass near Denton. The Texas Southern U.S. District Court found Totran couldn’t be held liable under the Carmack Amendment for lost profits that resulted from Maass not being able to use the damaged boring mill. Awarding special damages simply based on the argument that Maass had lost profits would expose carriers to liability for such damages for “virtually every shipment to any kind of manufacturing or similar facility,” it said. If Maass wanted to protect its profits, it should have put a specific provision in its contract with Totran to that effect, said the court.