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A shipping company who fails to comply with the arbitration notice requirements of the Carmack Amendment may not then rely on the shipper’s failure to use arbitration as an argument against awarding the shipper attorney fees, a federal court in Florida held.
In All in the Family Moving & Storage v. Latka, No. 1D05-3073, 2006 WL 2190522 (Fla. App. Aug. 4, 2006), a court awarded the Latkas damages and attorney fees in an action against All in the Family.
All in the Family appealed the award, arguing that the Latkas should not be awarded to attorney fees because the Latkas did not resort to arbitration.
Under the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, shipping companies like All in the Family are required to inform shippers, such as the Latkas, of the availability of arbitration to resolve any disputes. See 49 U.S.C. § 14708 (2000).
Since All in the Family failed to inform the Latkas of their right to pursue arbitration, and the Latkas were unaware of their right to arbitrate until over a year after filing their complaint, the Court held that the Latkas were entitled to attorney fees. Additionally, All in the Family could not use their own failure to comply with statutory obligations to argue against the award of attorney fees.
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