Small claims

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djsstrans

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May 12, 2009
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I was one of the suckers that got hooked by Dubuc Xpress last year, but was lucky enough to find the original broker (North Atlantic) before they paid Dubuc. They refused to pay us however, so it's off to court we go. The shipper was Walters Inc out of Hamilton. We sent them a small claims notice,(as we have no connection to North Atlantic) but thier rebutal was that they have honored thier contract with thier broker (North Atlantic) and our claim was with Dubuc. We do have the original B.O.L. To me seems ridiculous that they would not just insist to thier broker (North Atlantic) to resolve this matter but that would be too easy.
So we have mediation set for January any advice or case law would be extremely helpful.


Thanks.
 
You can find the BOL act on line or I can send it to you.... it has worked twice when I have had an issue
 
We just finished up a case in small claims which unfortunately did not go our way. This was our scenario:

Shipper - broker#1 (agent) - broker#2 (agent) - carrier (us)

We filed against the shipper after broker#2 (the "agent") closed their doors. We cited the Bill of Lading Act (to tie us all together) and the Highway Traffic Act (to support the notion that funds need to be held in "trust" to ensure payment to the delivering carrier)

As it turned out - the shipper paid broker#1 and broker#1 paid broker#2 - THEREFORE the "flow" of funds did follow the proper channels. We lost due to the fact that 2 brokers (agents) were involved in the middle and the original shipper did follow thru with their obligation. We were advised by an outside legal source that with our case - we would have been successful if #1 - there was only 1 broker (agent) involved and #2 - we had originally filed against the consignee (not the shipper) and cited the Mercantile Act.

If in your case - there are 2 brokers in the middle - and you are going after the shipper that already paid - it will be a difficult go. But if you have a settlement conference - who knows - they may offer something to avoid trial and more costs. Court now is really encouraging parties to settle as small claims is going to be really backed up next year.

We may have lost our case but got much satisfaction in knowing the shipper paid alot of money for legal representation - It must have been one whopper of a bill!

Good Luck with your case & I hope this info helps.
 
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