Mr. C. W. Lamar, B-171245

• Decision Date: 16 April 1971
• Docket Number: B-171245
• Court: Comptroller General of the United States
• Parties: TO MR. C. W. LAMAR.

TO MR. C. W. LAMAR.

No. B-171245

Comptroller General of the United States

April 16, 1971

Demurrage charges - government liability - time barred decision holding that k & r delivery, Inc., a post office department contractor, is not legally responsible for Demurrage charges incurred in connection with the unloading and hauling of postal supplies. Although Illinois central billed the postmaster, Chicago ill., $170.50 in Demurrage charges, the claim was not filed at GAO within the three year period of limitations under 49 U.S.C. 66. Therefore, the government is not liable for the Demurrage charges and there is no basis for charging k&r; the $170.50 withheld should be refunded.

We refer again to your letter of November 6, 1970, file 9100-KLS:EM, received in the general accounting office November 9, 1970, requesting our advice whether a post office department contractor, k & r delivery, Inc., is legally responsible for demurrage charges incurred in connection with the unloading and hauling of postal supplies and equipment performed under k & r's contract no. S-59. Also, you ask us about the propriety of certifying the payment of those Demurrage charges to the Illinois central railroad company on pod form 1864, voucher and schedule of payments.

Based on supplementary information furnished by you, we developed further facts and the expanded record shows that a shipment of letter boxes was transported in cars MKT 97641 and ATSF 211570 from Warrenton, Georgia, consigned to the postmaster Chicago, Illinois, under government bill of lading no D-0949220. The cars were spotted on the railroad's team track on April 24, 1967, but a teamsters strike prevented k & r from picking up the shipment and performing its services under contract no. S-59. As a result, the railroad billed the postmaster, Chicago, Illinois, for Demurrage charges of $170.50 caused by the failure of k & r to unload the cars within the prescribed free time.

Demurrage is a charge for the detention of carrier equipment incident to transportation (union belt of Detroit pooling of revenues 201 I.C.C. 577, 581 (1934); St. Louis, southwestern RY Co. v. Mays, 177 F.Supp. 182, 183 (1959)), and is part and parcel of the transportation charges. Davis v Timmonsville oil co., 285 F. 470, 472 (1922); proctor and gamble Co. v. united states, 281 F. 1014, 1015 (1922); Norton v Shotmeyer, 72 F.Supp. 188, 191 (1947); Indiana harbor belt R. Co. v. Jacob stern & sons, 37 F.Supp. 690, 692 (1941). However, Demurrage charges on an interstate shipment are subject to regulation by the interstate commerce...