Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 7-309 – Duty of care; contractual limitation of carrier’s liability
(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.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 7-309
- Carrier: means a person that issues a bill of lading. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 7-102
- Consignor: means a person named in a bill of lading as the person from which the goods have been received for shipment. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 7-102
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract for storage or transportation. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 7-102
- Person: means a natural person, partnership (whether general or limited), limited liability company, trust (including a common law trust, business trust, statutory trust, voting trust or any other form of trust), estate, association (including any group, organization, co-tenancy, plan, board, council or committee), corporation, government (including a country, state, county or any other governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality), custodian, nominee or any other individual or entity (or series thereof) in its own or any representative capacity, in each case, whether domestic or foreign. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 17-101
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
(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.
5A Del. C. 1953, §§ ?7-309; 55 Del. Laws, c. 349; 74 Del. Laws, c. 332, § ?39;