Missed filing deadlines are one of the most common reasons freight claims get denied. And unlike incomplete documentation, which can sometimes be remedied after the fact, a missed deadline is final. The carrier isn’t required to consider your claim at all, regardless of how strong your evidence is.
The challenge is that freight claim deadlines aren’t one simple number. They vary by the governing legal framework (federal, carrier contract, or international treaty), by claim type (visible damage, concealed damage, loss, overcharge), and by mode (trucking, air, ocean). A shipper moving freight across multiple modes and carriers could be navigating half a dozen different filing windows simultaneously.
Whether you’re managing claims under the Carmack Amendment, handling concealed damage under a carrier’s tariff, or navigating an international air cargo claim under the Montreal Convention, here is exactly how much time you have, and where shippers most often get caught.
| Under the Carmack Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 14706(e)(1)), a motor carrier cannot require freight claims to be filed in less than 9 months from the delivery date, and cannot require a lawsuit to be filed in less than 2 years from the date of a written claim denial. These are federally mandated minimums; carriers can allow more time but never less. Any contractual provision requiring a shorter period is unenforceable. |
One of the most widespread misunderstandings in freight claims is the belief that the Carmack Amendment requires claims to be filed within 9 months. It doesn’t. As transportation law firm The Fuentes Firm explains, the statute establishes a floor, not a ceiling: carriers may not require a filing period shorter than 9 months, but they can, and some do, allow longer windows. The actual filing deadline for your claim is set by the specific carrier’s Bill of Lading, tariff, or contract of carriage. If that document is silent on deadlines, the 9-month minimum applies as a default protection.
Conversely, if a carrier’s Bill of Lading states that claims must be filed within 6 months, that provision is unenforceable under federal law. Any deadline shorter than 9 months violates the Carmack Amendment and cannot be used as grounds for denial. This is worth knowing because some carriers include shorter windows in their documentation, and some shippers accept denials under those provisions without realizing they have legal protection.
If a carrier denies your claim, the Carmack Amendment provides a second critical timeline: the carrier cannot require a lawsuit to be filed in less than 2 years from the date of written denial. The clock starts when the carrier issues its denial letter, not from the delivery date or the date you filed the claim. If no litigation deadline is specified in the contract, state law governs, which may, in some cases, be more generous than the 2-year federal minimum.
Under 49 CFR § 370.3, a claim is considered filed when the carrier receives a written or electronic communication that identifies the shipment, asserts carrier liability, and makes a demand for payment of a specific dollar amount. A phone call to the claims department is not a filed claim. An email saying “we had some damage” without specifying a dollar amount may not qualify either. The claim must be in writing, specify a specific amount, and reach the carrier before the deadline expires.
| Under federal regulations (49 CFR § 370.5 and § 370.9), a motor carrier must acknowledge receipt of a freight claim in writing within 30 days. The carrier then has 120 days from receipt to pay the claim, decline it in writing with a stated reason, or make a firm compromise settlement offer. If the claim remains unresolved after 120 days, the carrier must provide written status updates every 60 days thereafter until a final disposition is reached. |
These timelines are established by FMCSA regulation, not carrier policy, and they apply uniformly to all motor carriers providing interstate transportation. Here is the full carrier response sequence in practice:
| Carrier Obligation | Deadline | Regulatory Basis | What to Do If Missed |
| Acknowledge receipt of claim in writing | 30 days from receipt | 49 CFR § 370.5 | Follow up in writing; cite the regulation |
| Pay, decline, or offer firm settlement | 120 days from receipt | 49 CFR § 370.9 | Notify the carrier that they are in violation of FMCSA rules |
| Provide a written status update if unresolved | Every 60 days after the 120-day mark | 49 CFR § 370.9 | Document the silence; it strengthens your position in any dispute |
Industry data shows that the average freight claim under manual processing takes 47 days from filing to final disposition. But this average masks a significant problem: approximately 30% of filed claims are abandoned before final payout – not because they were denied, but because the shipper’s team ran out of bandwidth to follow up when the carrier slow-walks the process past the 60-day mark. For the full timeline of what to expect after filing, see our guide to the freight claim processing timeline.
| While the Carmack Amendment sets a 9-month minimum, individual carriers define their own filing windows through their tariffs, rules circulars, and contracts of carriage. These carrier-specific deadlines are enforceable as long as they meet or exceed the 9-month federal floor. The real risk for shippers isn’t that a carrier imposes a shorter-than-legal window; it’s that you’re managing 10, 20, or 50 different carrier relationships, each with its own deadline calendar. |
In practice, most major LTL and FTL carriers honor the 9-month standard. Where deadlines diverge is in the details: the starting point of the window (date of delivery vs. date of shipment), the requirements for what constitutes a “filed” claim, and the subsidiary deadlines for specific claim types like concealed damage and overcharges.
Carrier claim deadlines are typically published in three places:
Before filing any claim, verify the applicable deadline in the specific carrier’s documentation. If you find a provision requiring claims in less than 9 months, that provision is unenforceable, but you should file within the Carmack minimum regardless, rather than litigating the point.
A mid-market shipper working with 15 carriers and processing 50 claims per month is managing at least 15 different deadline calendars simultaneously. Add concealed damage windows, carrier-specific documentation requirements, and the 120-day response tracking obligation, and you’re looking at hundreds of overlapping deadlines in motion at any time. This is precisely why missed filing deadlines account for 20-25% of all freight claim denials. No spreadsheet tracks this reliably at scale.
| Concealed damage, damage discovered after delivery, and damage discovered after signing the receipt have the shortest filing window of any claim type. FMCSA guidelines and most carrier tariffs require written notice to the carrier within 5 business days of discovering concealed damage. The formal claim itself must still be filed within the standard 9-month Carmack window, but failing to provide the initial 5-day notice can give the carrier grounds to deny the claim entirely. |
The distinction between the notification and filing deadlines is critical and often catches shippers off guard. When you discover concealed damage, two separate clocks start running:
Concealed damage claims face the highest denial rates of any claim type, in large part because shippers miss the narrow notification window or fail to preserve evidence properly.
| Not all freight claims are damage or loss claims. Overcharge claims (billing disputes), delay claims, and shortage claims each follow different timeline rules. Overcharge claims under FMCSA regulations must be filed within 180 days of receipt of the freight bill. Delay claims follow the standard Carmack window but require proof of consequential financial harm. Shortage claims follow the same 9-month minimum but may include concealed-shortage notification windows similar to those for concealed damage. |
Overcharge claims, in which the carrier bills more than the contracted or tariff rate, are technically billing disputes rather than cargo claims and follow a separate regulatory track. The filing window is 180 days from receipt of the freight bill, which is significantly shorter than the 9-month damage-claim window. If your freight audit process catches a billing error after 180 days, you’ve likely lost the ability to recover the overcharge through the formal claims process.
Delay claims, where late delivery causes financial harm such as spoiled perishables, missed production deadlines, or lost sales, follow the standard Carmack filing window. However, they carry a higher documentation burden. You must prove that the carrier was responsible for the delay, that the delay directly caused a quantifiable financial loss, and the specific dollar amount of that loss. Courts have consistently held that delay claims require evidence of both the causal link and the financial impact, not just evidence that the delivery was late.
Shortage claims follow the standard 9-month filing minimum when the shortage is noted on the delivery receipt at the time of delivery. However, concealed shortages, where the packaging appears intact, but contents are missing, are subject to the same 5-business-day notification rules as concealed damage. If you discover a shortage after signing clear, notify the carrier in writing immediately and request a joint inspection.
| International air cargo claims are governed by the Montreal Convention (1999), which imposes significantly shorter deadlines than the Carmack Amendment: 14 days from receipt to notify the carrier of cargo damage, and 21 days to notify of delay. Legal proceedings must be initiated within 2 years. As of March 2026, 142 ICAO member states have ratified the Convention. These deadlines are strict – failure to provide written notice within the prescribed periods makes the claim legally inadmissible except in cases of carrier fraud. |
| Claim Type | Notification Deadline | Litigation Deadline | Key Provision |
| Damaged cargo | 14 days from receipt of goods | 2 years from the date of the event | Article 31(2) |
| Delayed cargo | 21 days from the date goods are placed at disposal | 2 years from the date the goods should have arrived | Article 31(2) + Article 35 |
| Lost cargo | Deemed lost if not delivered within 21 days of expected arrival; 2 years to bring suit | 2 years from the date goods should have arrived | Article 35 |
The Montreal Convention applies to international air carriage between ratifying states. If your shipment is transported by air between two countries that have signed the Convention, these are the governing deadlines, regardless of what the carrier’s individual terms say. The Convention’s notification deadlines are especially unforgiving: unlike the Carmack Amendment’s 9-month window, the 14-day and 21-day periods leave almost no room for delayed discovery or slow internal processes.
Ocean cargo claims are governed by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA) in the United States and the Hague-Visby Rules internationally. The notice-of-loss deadline for visible damage is 3 days from delivery, and the statute of limitations for filing suit is 1 year from the date of delivery. COGSA also caps carrier liability at $500 per package or customary freight unit unless a higher value is declared on the bill of lading before shipment. If your supply chain includes an ocean leg, you’re operating under an entirely different liability regime than domestic trucking, and a much shorter litigation clock.
| The only reliable way to manage overlapping freight claim deadlines across multiple carriers, claim types, and legal regimes is automation. Purpose-built claims management software tracks every deadline for every open claim, sends alerts before windows close, and creates an auditable record of notification and filing dates. Companies that systematize their deadline management eliminate 20-25% of denials caused by missed deadlines – often the single largest recoverable improvement in their claims program. |
Use this as a quick reference. Print it, bookmark it, or share it with your receiving and claims teams.
| Deadline | Time Allowed | Starts From | Governing Law |
| Carmack: File a written claim | No less than 9 months | Delivery date (or expected delivery for loss) | 49 U.S.C. § 14706(e)(1) |
| Carmack: File a lawsuit after denial | No less than 2 years | Date of carrier’s written denial | 49 U.S.C. § 14706(e)(1) |
| Carrier: Acknowledge receipt of claim | 30 days | Date the carrier receives the claim | 49 CFR § 370.5 |
| Carrier: Pay, deny, or settle | 120 days | Date the carrier receives the claim | 49 CFR § 370.9 |
| Carrier: Status updates if unresolved | Every 60 days | After the 120-day mark | 49 CFR § 370.9 |
| Concealed damage: Notify the carrier | 5 business days | Date damage is discovered | FMCSA guidelines/carrier tariff |
| Overcharge: File a billing claim | 180 days | Date the freight bill is received | FMCSA regulation |
| Montreal Convention: Damaged cargo | 14 days | Date goods are received | Article 31(2) |
| Montreal Convention: Delayed cargo | 21 days | Date goods placed at disposal | Article 31(2) |
| Montreal Convention: Lawsuit | 2 years | Date of event or expected arrival | Article 35 |
| COGSA (ocean): Notice of loss/damage | 3 days | Date of delivery | 46 U.S.C. § 30701 note |
| COGSA (ocean): File lawsuit | 1 year | Date of delivery | 46 U.S.C. § 30701 note |
At small volumes, 10 or 15 claims per month with a single carrier, a well-maintained calendar or spreadsheet can adequately track deadlines. At 50+ claims per month across multiple carriers and claim types, manual tracking becomes a liability. We’ve found that shippers using automated claims processes reduce average resolution time from 47 days to 14-21 days, largely because automated systems eliminate the documentation lag and follow-up gaps that cause claims to stall and deadlines to slip.
FreightClaims.com’s platform tracks every filing window for every open claim, automatically adjusts for carrier-specific tariff deadlines, and sends alerts before windows close. For concealed damage claims, the system initiates the 5-day carrier notification sequence the moment damage is reported. For carriers with unique filing requirements, the platform auto-generates the correct form. The result is zero missed deadlines and a complete audit trail documenting every notification and filing date.
Every deadline listed here exists to protect both shippers and carriers, but the practical burden falls disproportionately on the shipper. You’re the one managing multiple carrier relationships, multiple claim types, and multiple legal frameworks simultaneously. The carrier is managing its own process under its own rules.
The companies that recover the most from freight claims share a common trait: they’ve systematized their deadline management so that no claim ever falls through the cracks.
Ready to eliminate missed deadlines from your claims process? Book a demo and we’ll show you how FreightClaims.com tracks every window, across every carrier, for every claim—automatically.
Not exactly. The Carmack Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 14706(e)(1)) establishes that carriers cannot require claims to be filed in less than 9 months – it’s a minimum floor, not a fixed deadline. The actual filing period is set by the carrier’s Bill of Lading or contract of carriage, which can allow more time but never less. If a carrier’s terms specify a shorter window, that provision is unenforceable under federal law.
Under 49 CFR § 370.9, the carrier must pay the claim, decline it in writing, or make a firm compromise settlement offer within 120 days of receiving the claim. If the claim remains unresolved after 120 days, the carrier must provide written status updates every 60 days. The carrier must acknowledge receipt of the claim within 30 days (49 CFR § 370.5).
If you file after the applicable deadline, the carrier has grounds to deny the claim automatically, regardless of the claim’s merit or the strength of your documentation. Missed deadlines are the second-leading cause of freight claim denials, accounting for 20-25% of all rejections, according to 2026 industry benchmarks. There is generally no appeal process for a deadline-based denial.
Most carrier tariffs and FMCSA guidelines require written notice to the carrier within 5 business days of discovering concealed damage. This is a notification requirement, not the formal claim deadline. You must still file the complete claim within the standard Carmack window (typically 9 months from delivery). But missing the 5-day notification window gives the carrier strong grounds for denial.
The Carmack Amendment’s 9-month minimum applies equally to LTL and FTL. However, individual carrier tariffs may set different requirements, and LTL carriers tend to have more stringent documentation requirements due to the multiple-handling nature of hub-and-spoke networks. LTL claims also face higher denial rates – 50-60% compared to 20-35% for FTL.
Under the Montreal Convention (1999), you must notify the carrier of damaged cargo within 14 days of receipt, and of delayed cargo within 21 days. Legal proceedings must be initiated within 2 years. These deadlines are strict. Failure to provide written notice within the prescribed period makes the claim legally inadmissible. As of March 2026, 142 ICAO member states have ratified the Convention.
Under the Carmack Amendment, the carrier cannot require that a lawsuit be filed within 2 years of the date of written claim denial. The clock starts when the carrier issues its denial letter, not from the delivery date. If no litigation deadline is specified in the carrier’s contract, state law governs the limitation period, which may differ. Consult a transportation attorney before pursuing litigation.
