How to deal with a transportation company which faked the bill of lading?
Question Details:
I have recently used an "auto transport" service. It was hard to track where my car was. After long delay, it was delivered with a damage. But, the driver lied again and again that he did not know anything about it and the damage was original by showing the Bill of Lading. He was yelling and around 2 am he unloaded. I marked all the damage in the Bill of Lading. I was very upset about the situation. I have a copy of the Bill of Lading signed by the sender which is completely different from what I got from the driver. It clearly shows that the BoL was intentionally modified.
If the damage was caused during delivery (that is, it was not damaged before the company picked it up), you would sue them for the damage. You'd sue them based on either negligence (carelessness) or an intentional bad act (if someone deliberately damaged the car). In addition, if they lied about or falsified the Bill of Lading, they may have committed fraud and/or an unconsciounable commercial practice, which in many states would give you the right to seek additional compensation. Therefore, you may have more than one ground to sue them, and you probably should consult with an attorney (if the damage is more than a few hundred dollars), to see how much you may be able to recover; if the damage is fairly inexpensive to repair, you're probably best off acting as your own lawyer when you sue.
