Boat Held Hostage By Marine Transport Company

[jeremiason]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Did not in any way suggest a false police report. If the facts from the OP are reported correctly then the trucker has taken someone else's property and refused to return it. That qualifies as theft in my book.

You have to understand.... If there is a CONTRACT involved, there is no CRIMINAL charges that can be filed. This is plainly a violation of the contract and therefore a CIVIL matter.

You can call the FBI, State Troopers, Highway Patrol, Sheriff, the local Police or whatever other law enforcement agency you like and they will give you the same answer... Call a lawyer

[Cheechako]

So.... when a mafia related trucker waylays your shipment and locks it in a warehouse.... it's not theft? I agree with the lawyer advice, and would bet a federal crime has been committed as it crossed state lines....

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

You have to understand.... If there is a CONTRACT involved, there is no CRIMINAL charges that can be filed. This is plainly a violation of the contract and therefore a CIVIL matter.

You can call the FBI, State Troopers, Highway Patrol, Sheriff, the local Police or whatever other law enforcement agency you like and they will give you the same answer... Call a lawyer

Not necessarily...The CONTRACT would have to STATE that the DRIVER WAS NOT responsible for the STUPID MISTAKE of over loading the trailer. If someone STEALS my property then I call the AUTHORITIES.

[tomfl]

The first thing the OP needs to do is find and read the contract. Without the contract it is hard to suggest any course of action. If the contract is with a legit trucking company they should be contacted to get their side of the story. My brother ran a trucking company before he retired and if any of his drivers had a problem delivering a load they were to contact him and he would deal with the client who booked a load to be delivered. He also was paying a fortune for insurance in case a driver got drunk, smoked pot, shot up heroin, and then picked up an under age illegal alien girl who he let drive the truck and then she had a wreck. As a rule if a tractor/trailer breaks down a new tractor/trailer with a new driver picks up the load. This is especially true for independent truckers who often do not maintain their stuff as well as the big companies.

The claim that the trucker contacted the client raises big red flags. But the case may be that the trucker is a one guy operation and the contract is with him. Sometimes you can get cut rate prices if you do this, but as the old saying goes "you pay your money and take your chances". If this is what the OP did he may be in a bind. If the independent trucker has light weight insurance and broke down in the middle of nowhere the solution may be to simply contract with a different trucker.

As others have posted there are multiple laws and rules in multiple jurisdictions that may apply, some civil and perhaps some may be criminal. Unfortunately it will probably require at least one lawyer to sort out what the contract says, if the contract was subcontracted and to who, who is liable for what, and what laws, rules, and regulations apply and if any laws, rules, or regulations have been violated.

Bottom line is if a call to the company contracted with (assuming the contract is with a company and not an independent) does not resolve the situation the OP needs a lawyer.

[Blue Stocking]

Live outside the USA, so don't have this problem, but surely:

A. The contract must have a completion date ? (delivered by --/--/----)
B. What conditions were described for failure to meet that date ?
C. What were the stated $ penalties.

edit: tomfl beat me to it.

[CREOLE-BELLE]

Again many thanks. I obviously did not make a wise choice. Didn't even ask about the equipment used to haul. Assumed it would be a semi. Was not at the boatyard when she was picked up. The boatyard sold me it was loaded on a trailer pulled by a large pickup. Evidently a 6 wheel trailer. The company is small. Listed on the internet as one employee. He had a driver pick it up. Said when he inspected his driver's work, found it lacking and therefore had to reposition it. Confirmed with garage in El Paso that a new transmission was installed, all under warrenty.

Boat is 10.5 feet wide, requiring wide load permits. WOULD A PICKUP TRUCK / TRAILER COMBINATION NEED TO GO ON WEIGHT SCALES? ONE OF THE OTHER MOVERS I SPOKE WITH COMMENTED THAT THE SIZE OF MY BOAT MADE THINGS A LOT SIMPLIER. DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. POSSIBLY NO SCALES.

I did receive certification of insurance coverage directly from his insurance agent.

On the plus side, if there is a plus side, this guy has been in the marine transport business a number of years and was recommended by a large local boatyard. More bad news. His website which was quite extensive, is no longer available.

THANKS AGAIN

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

You have to understand.... If there is a CONTRACT involved, there is no CRIMINAL charges that can be filed. This is plainly a violation of the contract and therefore a CIVIL matter.

You can call the FBI, State Troopers, Highway Patrol, Sheriff, the local Police or whatever other law enforcement agency you like and they will give you the same answer... Call a lawyer

As I posted the first thing to do is determine who the contract is with. If the contract is with a legit company call them first and get the story on why the driver called the client instead of calling the company. If the contract is with an independent trucker it gets messy. At this point you call a lawyer.

But just because there is a contract does not mean there are no violations of criminal law. There are simply too many unanswered questions to say.

[CREOLE-BELLE]

The contract was a simple email stating the cost, 50% now , 50% upon delivery and a delivery date. Pretty dumb, eh!

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by CREOLE-BELLE

Again many thanks. I obviously did not make a wise choice. Didn't even ask about the equipment used to haul. Assumed it would be a semi. Was not at the boatyard when she was picked up. The boatyard sold me it was loaded on a trailer pulled by a large pickup. Evidently a 6 wheel trailer. The company is small. Listed on the internet as one employee. He had a driver pick it up. Said when he inspected his driver's work, found it lacking and therefore had to reposition it. Confirmed with garage in El Paso that a new transmission was installed, all under warrenty.

Boat is 10.5 feet wide, requiring wide load permits. WOULD A PICKUP TRUCK / TRAILER COMBINATION NEED TO GO ON WEIGHT SCALES? ONE OF THE OTHER MOVERS I SPOKE WITH COMMENTED THAT THE SIZE OF MY BOAT MADE THINGS A LOT SIMPLIER. DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. POSSIBLY NO SCALES.

I did receive certification of insurance coverage directly from his insurance agent.

On the plus side, if there is a plus side, this guy has been in the marine transport business a number of years and was recommended by a large local boatyard. More bad news. His website which was quite extensive, is no longer available.

THANKS AGAIN

A big pickup is capable of towing heavy loads, especially on a good trailer. Not to say my first choice would not be a semi. As a rule truckers are responsible for loading but the contract would address this. There might be a contract assigning repair costs to the person contracting to have something moved (like if you were carrying King Kong and he broke out of the cage and destroyed the truck), but as a rule the trucking company is responsible.

Transmissions go out if they get too hot from carrying too heavy a load for too long a time at too fast a speed. Lots of semis and big pickups have a gauge to show the temperature of the transmission fluid, but not all. Same goes for wheel bearings. It is not uncommon to have an IR gun and check the wheel bearing and tire temp 30 minutes after the start of the trip and on a regular basis there after.

Saying the boat requiring a wide load permit makes things easier means there is more paperwork and it is easier to follow the paper work trail. Being a wide load does not mean the load does not have to be weighed.

The good news is you have the name of the insurance company. This means you can call them up and ask if they will get involved. Under different circumstances I did this and it took less than a day for the insurance company lawyer to call me up and say I did not need to get a lawyer, they would get involved and solve the problem. I was very happy with how the insurance company solved the problem. Their position was they could make me happy at a certain price point, or they could make me happy at a certain price point and also have to make my lawyer at an additional price point.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by The Blue Heron

SKIP
tongue in cheek... tongue in cheek...

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding. But don't you know the law of the internet? You are supposed to insert some sort of smiley face or other inane graphic symbol so the clueless (like myself) understand that humor or sarcasm is intended.

Almost got moderated myself last year when I made what I thought was a very humorous comment to a friend denigrating in the most outrageous terms his particular boat brand and model. Apparently some members did not understand that my totally over the top comments were humor.

Now I am careful to insert lots of silly face things in my posts, just to be sure.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by CREOLE-BELLE

Again many thanks. I obviously did not make a wise choice. Didn't even ask about the equipment used to haul. Assumed it would be a semi. Was not at the boatyard when she was picked up. The boatyard sold me it was loaded on a trailer pulled by a large pickup. Evidently a 6 wheel trailer. The company is small. Listed on the internet as one employee. He had a driver pick it up. Said when he inspected his driver's work, found it lacking and therefore had to reposition it. Confirmed with garage in El Paso that a new transmission was installed, all under warrenty.

Boat is 10.5 feet wide, requiring wide load permits. WOULD A PICKUP TRUCK / TRAILER COMBINATION NEED TO GO ON WEIGHT SCALES? ONE OF THE OTHER MOVERS I SPOKE WITH COMMENTED THAT THE SIZE OF MY BOAT MADE THINGS A LOT SIMPLIER. DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. POSSIBLY NO SCALES.

I did receive certification of insurance coverage directly from his insurance agent.

On the plus side, if there is a plus side, this guy has been in the marine transport business a number of years and was recommended by a large local boatyard. More bad news. His website which was quite extensive, is no longer available.

THANKS AGAIN

Geees...This is smelling more and more like the guy I used who bent my roller furling. He was based out of Indiana.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by CREOLE-BELLE

The contract was a simple email stating the cost, 50% now , 50% upon delivery and a delivery date. Pretty dumb, eh!

Most lawyers take a course in contract law, sometimes multiple courses. Even a simple contract is a lot more involved than you may think. To determine if the contract was dumb you would have to have a lawyer look at it.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Did not in any way suggest a false police report. If the facts from the OP are reported correctly then the trucker has taken someone else's property and refused to return it. That qualifies as theft in my book.

Not trying to be hard to get along with...If you have a contract with someone and then you have trouble ,it is a civil matter,no policeman in his right mind would misconstru it as theft...its he said she said, and a civil court is the only recourse...I would like for it to be "theft" if it were my boat,but at the end of the day it is not theft ,you give your boat,car,money freely and it becomes civil...we are at the mercy of people like this when we enter into a contract...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by CREOLE-BELLE

His website which was quite extensive, is no longer available.

Put the URL (www.name.com) into here:-

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

Might not get all the pages though . I suggest printing the details out, as stuff don't last forever even if it doesn't dissapear from the Internet quite as quickly as some folks think (hope?).

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

If a person has your property, hides it in a yard, won't tell you where it is until you give him money...then...I would say it is stolen. To roll over and pay an extortionist only allows him to get away with his dishonesty and screw the next guy the same way...human nature.

Depends on how he got the property...