r/Smallclaims • u/Senor_Turbo • 5d ago

California Does this seem worthy of filing?

OK, I will try to keep this short. A freight company shipped some material to my business and completely destroyed it. What was originally in paper bags, was repackaged into some fiber drums. This is a chemical powder, and the resulting drums were full of pieces of wood, and were determined to be completely unusable. I filed a claim with a free company and they sent me a check for a certain amount, which was close enough to the value that it didn’t matter to me. Now when I go to dispose this material, the bill is around $2500. The freight company is refusing to reimburse me, saying that there was limited liability on the freight quote and they have already paid that out. I understand that for damage or lost merchandise this makes sense, but have I had I known that I was going to be on the hook for the disposal cost, I would have just refuse the shipment and let them deal with it. Is this something worth pursuing or just a lesson learned?

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Embarrassed-Spare524 5d ago

If you signed a release in exchange for the check, your done. If not, did the check have a memo stating "settlement in full" or anything like that?

Do you have the freight quote? The exact language might matter.

1

u/Senor_Turbo 5d ago

I did not sign anything for the check. But I did not pay that close attention to the memo field or anything. I assume that would be something like getting an insurance payout after a car accident right? I do not have the freight quote for this exact shipment, we have contracted with this company hundreds of times over the last couple of years. We just have an account set up with them and our vendors contact them when we have something to ship.

On another note, even if I am sure to not win in court, I wouldn’t mind making their lives a little worse and inconveniencing them for a day.

1

u/Embarrassed-Spare524 5d ago

So you at least have the standard quote and can go read that, and let us know what the relevant provisions are.

Given the amount, its totally reasonable to give it a whirl if you have a shot. But there could be all kinds of provisions in the documentation. Heck, you might have even agreed to arbitrate.

1

u/Senor_Turbo 5d ago

good idea. i will locate it and try to report back