Ala. Code
Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 7-7-309 (2026)

Duty of Care; Contractual Limitation of Carrier’s Liability.

✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section JustiaAla. Code CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) A carrier that issues a bill of lading, whether negotiable or nonnegotiable, shall exercise the degree of care in relation to the goods which a reasonably careful person would exercise under similar circumstances. This subsection does not affect any statute, regulation, or rule of law that imposes liability upon a common carrier for damages not caused by its negligence.

(b) Damages may be limited by a term in the bill of lading or in a transportation agreement that the carrier’s liability may not exceed a value stated in the bill or transportation agreement if the carrier’s rates are dependent upon value and the consignor is afforded an opportunity to declare a higher value and the consignor is advised of the opportunity. However, such a limitation is not effective with respect to the carrier’s liability for conversion to its own use.

(c) Reasonable provisions as to the time and manner of presenting claims and commencing actions based on the shipment may be included in a bill of lading or a transportation agreement.

(Prior version of this section added by Acts 1965, No. 549, p. 811; repealed by Act 2004-315, p. 464, §1; current section added by Act 2004-315, p. 464, §1.)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 2002–2002 · leading case: McLean v. Wheaton Van Lines, Inc., 842 So. 2d 673 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
McLean v. Wheaton Van Lines, Inc., 842 So. 2d 673 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002). “” Section 7-7-309(3), Ala.Code 1975, a part of the Alabama Uniform Commercial Code, does “otherwise provide” that “[r]ea-sonable provisions as to the time and manner of presenting claims and instituting actions based on the shipment may be included in a bill of lading or tariff.”
— Ala. Code § 7-7-309(3) — 1 case
McLean v. Wheaton Van Lines, Inc., 842 So. 2d 673 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002). “” Section 7-7-309(3), Ala.Code 1975, a part of the Alabama Uniform Commercial Code, does “otherwise provide” that “[r]ea-sonable provisions as to the time and manner of presenting claims and instituting actions based on the shipment may be included in a bill of lading or tariff.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.