Comment by William C. Baldwin
The multimodal and containerization revolution has dramatically transformed the shipping industry, making shipping much more efficient and timely. With such changes have also come new legal issues, including whether to apply the Carmack Amendment to the inland portion of through bills of lading. This Comment provides in-depth analysis into the issue, arguing that Carmack should not apply to the domestic segment of multimodal segments for four reasons. First, the application of Carmack, absent a separate bill of lading (i.e., when there is a through bill of lading), would effectively write out part of the statute. Additionally, the Supreme Court in Reider v. Thompson implicitly laid the foundation for the inapplicability of Carmack in such situations. Third, judicial economy and the need for predictability in the shipping industry also mandate the application of maritime law to the entire through bill of lading. Finally, the Supreme Court's decision in Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Kirby reaffirmed the need for uniformity and efficiency in general maritime law, and these two principles would be severely undermined if Carmack were applied.
About the Author
William C. Baldwin. J.D. candidate 2008, Tulane University School of Law; B.S. 2005, McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.
Citation
82 Tul. L. Rev. 731 (2007)