§ 16.006.Carriers of Property

Disputes over freight charges run on their own three-year clock, in both directions. A carrier suing to recover charges has three years; a shipper suing over overcharges has the same.

Accrual is fixed by subsection (e): a cause of action regarding a shipment of property accrues on delivery or tender of the property by the carrier. Tender matters as much as delivery — a shipment the consignee refuses still starts the clock.

Two extensions can move the deadline, and they protect opposite parties.

If the shipper presents a written claim for the overcharges inside the three years, the period extends six months from the date the carrier gives written notice disallowing the claim in whole or in part, as specified in the carrier’s notice. That stops a carrier from running out the clock by sitting on a claim: the extension does not begin until the carrier answers.

And if the carrier sues for charges relating to the service, or collects them without suing, on or before the three years expires, the shipper gets 90 days from the day the action began or the charges were collected. That protects a shipper who paid under protest late in the period from losing the right to challenge the amount.

Subsection (f) defines "overcharge" narrowly — a charge for transportation services in excess of the lawfully applicable amount — which confines the section to rate disputes rather than claims for damage or loss to the goods themselves.

Three years is a bespoke period for this relationship, sitting between the general two-year tort period and the four-year contract period that would otherwise govern a freight bill.