49 U.S.C. § 13304
Section 13304 · Service of process in court proceedings
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case McKamey v. Vander Houten (1999)
Most recently applied in Pena v. R & B Transportation (March 2012)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Designation of Agent.—A motor carrier or broker providing transportation subject to jurisdiction under chapter 135, including a motor carrier or broker operating within the United States while providing transportation between places in a foreign country or between a place in one foreign country and a place in another foreign country, shall designate an agent in each State in which it operates by name and post office address on whom process issued by a court with subject matter jurisdiction may be served in an action brought against that carrier or broker. The designation shall be in writing and filed with the Department of Transportation and each State in which the carrier operates may require that an additional designation be filed with it. If a designation under this subsection is not made, service may be made on any agent of the carrier or broker within that State.
(b) Change.—A designation under this section may be changed at any time in the same manner as originally made.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 10330 of this title prior to the general amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88, §102(a).