Non payment: throwing goods to the liens?
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Most haulier's are, from time to time, faced with a customer who won't pay. If the haulier is holding the customer's goods an obvious remedy is to keep them, pending payment, or settle the account by selling them and keeping part of the proceeds. In some cases this is perfectly legal. The RHA Conditions of Carriage (Clause 15), and most other standard contracts, contain a lien clause allowing the carrier to retain and ultimately sell customers goods when an account is outstanding. But the right to sell does not apply if the customer is not the owner of the goods. In this case the haulier may only retain the goods until faced with a demand from a person with legal title to them. Great care must be taken if the goods hauliers are carrying are not awned by the customer—for instance when sub-contracting—because a lien cannot be exercised against a person who is not a party to the contract. The owner of the goods in those circumstances will be able to claim the goods and if the haulier refuses to hand them over he will be liable to pay damages to the owner.
Lien can only be exercised when payment is due and the power to sell may only be used after a "reasonable time".
Where the consignment is perishable that "reasonable time" will soon expire; in other cases the haulier who acts too quickly might lay himself open to a claim that the goods were sold for less than their value. In this case the customer might attempt to claim the balance.
As always, a haulier has a duty to take reasonable care of the goods. If a controlledtemperature consignment is spoiled because the temperature rises the haulier could end up facing a claim for its value.