Throughout American law in general, dating back really to old English common law, is the concept of “duty of due care.” This is the bedrock standard of measurement underlying the concept of negligence. Negligence, being the legal term, is, in everyday parlance, carelessness. This is really the other side of the coin of the so-called “reasonable man” or reasonable person standard of care. The reasonable man standard, the “duty of due care” requires that we all act reasonably (under the circumstances at hand); if we don’t, we are then negligent.
The UCC holds storage and warehouse facilities to this negligence standard, stating that (paraphrasing) they would be liable for loss of goods or damage to goods being stored therein if said loss/damage can be attributed to the facility’s carelessness. As is so often the case in law, determining whether the facility acted carelessly (negligently) is going to be very fact specific to the case. Harking back to our elementary school days, the five w’s (who, what, where, when, and why) is what it’s all about in judging one of these facilities liable or not for negligence.
Insurance companies, their adjusters and attorneys will examine the facts of the case to help it determine what stance or position it takes. Naturally, they will posture the facts in a light most favorable to the argument that the facility it has insured acted under the circumstances and was thus not negligent. On the other hand, the claimant who’s blaming the facility for loss of or damage to the claimants’ goods will try to interpret the facts of the case in such a way that the only logical conclusion that can be reached is that the facility acted carelessly, i.e., negligently.
If the parties are unable to come to an agreed upon compromise and wind up litigating the claim, then the attorneys have the additional challenge of not only posturing the facts most favorably to their respective client but of getting those facts admitted into court under strict rules of evidence.
Production of goods (after their initial concept and design) is really the first step to getting those goods on the market and into our homes and offices. The vast production of these goods across the globe, especially in developed nations, gave rise to the necessity of the shipping, storage, protection, and warehousing of such goods. There seems to be no letup in the need for, and expansion of, storage and warehousing facilities, as we continue to purchase and fill our lives with the stuff of the modern manufacturing world.
A young person today thinking of going into a career or vocation with assurances of job security could do a lot worse than getting into the business(es) of shipping, storing, and warehousing. Just be careful, however, lest you run afoul of the reasonable man standard.
TERRANCE N TURNER, HON.
401-499-7047
tu*************@co*.net
