Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Fuel Surchage On Accessorial Charges

In the old days, the answer would be simple: look in the carrier's tariff. If a charge was published, the carrier had to charge and collect it; if not, the carrier mustn't charge or collect it. Undercharging, overcharging, negotiating, making things up on the spur of the moment, contracts, etc. all were impermissible and probably illegal.

Deregulation has changed all that. Carriers can do business with ordinary contracts or, if they choose, with tariffs that generally aren't required to be approved of filed with any regulatory body, and are more like price lists than formal tariffs.

I'd say that when a shipper tenders freight by executing a bill of lading or other transporation contract, a contract is formed which is subject to the pricing the shipper and carrier have agreed upon at that moment, or as specified in the bill of lading or other transportation contract. In other words, there is a contract of carriage and when signed by the shipper and carrier, commits both to the rates, charges, practices, etc. then in effect.

In other words, ordinary contract-law principles apply.

This being the case, whether something is "legal" or net depends upon whether the parties agreed to it at the time of contracting. I would add, however, that some of the vestiges of regulation still adhere to common-carrier pricing, and it is possible that the California PUC (for intrastate shipments) or the Surface Transportation Board (for interstate transporation) may have adopted special rules with respect to fuel surcharges.