Reply #5: Federal legislation "trumps" state or local laws. [View All]

[Divernan]

In law school, this was covered under the topic of Conflict of Laws.

As an example, the (federal) Interstate Commerce Commission governed interstate moving (among other things), and the legislation creating the Commission included a ban of any state legislation in the area.

Then some years back, the ICC was disbanded to save money in the federal budget, but the federal laws banning state legislation of interstate moving stayed on the books. The result is that currently there is NO law governing, or providing oversight of interstate moving. I learned this when I was researching performance records of interstate movers and discovered the thousands and thousands of lawsuits in California alone, brought by individuals whose furniture/property had been damaged, lost or destroyed in the course of interstate moves, and the movers had refused to make good on the damages, even when the customers had purchased what was advertised as "fully insured" moving services. The states can legislate and oversee moves from point A to point B WITHIN a state, but nothing that crosses over state lines.

Interstate moving is clearly an area where federal law is necessary to provide uniformity and protection for consumers.