Law Offices of Michael Garcia
Law Offices of Michael Garcia
Contact information and mailing address:
7676 Hazard Center Drive,  5th Floor
San Diego, California 92108
Telephone: 1-877-299-0550
Fax: 1-877-845-6048
Transportation law  •  Tariff Publishing  •  Regulatory Compliance  •  Consumer Protection
Copyright © 2011 Law Offices of Michael Garcia All Rights Reserved
By using this website you agree to the terms and conditions for the use of this site.
Check the license and authority status of any interstate carrier by searching the US DOT website:

Michael Garcia is an attorney from Santa Clara, California and the principal of the Law Office of Michael Garcia. Mr. Garcia is an author, trial attorney, and consumer protection attorney. His firm specializes in interstate and intrastate transportation law and the representation of household goods moving companies, bus and passenger carriers, and consumers. His practice focuses on regulatory compliance and training, tariff and contract requirements, safety compliance, and consumer protection laws. Mr. Garcia's practice has a strong emphasis on training in order to avoid litigation and regulatory actions by educating motor carriers to operate in compliance with the law and to protect consumers.

Moving company representation: Mr. Garcia's regulatory compliance practice includes training, drafting of shipping documents (bill of lading, order for service, binding estimate, non-binding estimate, etc.). Mr. Garcia's firm publishes custom interstate moving company tariffs in compliance with FMCSA and STB regulations. Mr. Garcia's firm also represents moving companies in regulatory actions and civil lawsuits against moving companies.

Bus and Passenger Carrier representation: Mr. Garcia's representation of bus and passenger carriers focuses on licensing, regulatory compliance, and safety and fitness matters.

Consumer representation: Mr. Garcia's represents consumers in lawsuits against moving companies and in arbitration. Lawsuits against moving companies may include damages to property, breach of contract, tariff or regulatory violations, and hostage loads. 

Mr. Garcia is admitted to practice before all state courts in California; and the United States District Court Northern District of California. He frequently represents motor carriers in administrative actions before the United States DOT FMCSA.

The information contained on this website is designed for informational purposes only. Nothing on this website is designed or intended to constitute legal advice. Federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing the moving industry change frequently and may be interpreted differently by different people. If you need specific legal advice you should consult Mr. Garcia directly or a representative from the US DOT.

Check your FMCSA  SMS Scores!

What is your SMS Score?
The FMCSA's  online SMS website provides an assessment of a motor carrier's on-road performance and investigation results within the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). Assessments cover 24 months of activity and results are updated monthly.

A  yellow warning symbol, indicates that motor carrier exceeds the FMCSA intervention threshold based upon roadside data and/or has been cited with one or more serious violations within the past 12 months during an investigation.  As a result, a motor carrier may be prioritized for an intervention action and roadside inspection.

WARNING: If your SMS profile has one or more  yellow warning symbols than you are at risk to be investigated by the FMCSA.  Safety investigations and a poor safety track record may result in civil fines, out-of-service orders, and insurance cancellations.  See sample SMS profile below:


How to check your SMS Score:
STEP 1: Go to the FMCSA SMS website.

https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms/Default.aspx

STEP 2:  Click the "LOGIN" link.  
                (upper right hand corner)

STEP 3: Enter your motor carrier  US DOT  and  PIN:











The FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) calculates a measure for each Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement category. The measure is then used to assign a ranking, or percentile, for each motor carrier that has information that could be compared against other similar carriers.

The SMS score percentile is computed on a 0-100 scale, with 100 indicating the worst performance and 0 indicating the best performance.  The higher your SMS score is the worst your safety performance is.  The carrier in the group with the highest measure will be at the 100th percentile, while the carrier with the lowest measure in the group will be at the 0 percentile.