Tower v. Grocers Supply & Storage Co.

Citations

• 159 Pa. 106
• 28 A. 229
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 1484

Syllabus

<p>Bailment — Insurance—Contract.</p> <p>Where a person engaged in the storage business makes it a part of such business to effect insurances in companies when requested by customers to do so and protects himself for his advances and charges by holding the goods, the agreement to insure is in the direct line of his business and not a contract of insurance requiring certain essential elements to constitute it. It is not a voluntary and gratuitous act, but an undertaking in connection with the bailment.</p> <p>Bailment — Storage—Negligence—Fire.</p> <p>A bailee for hire who receives goods for storage is bound to exercise ordinary diligence and care, but he is not liable for the loss of the goods by fire, where it does not appear that the fire was caused by his own negligence.</p> <p>Negligence — Evidence—Scintilla—Watchman.</p> <p>In an action against a warehouse company for damages for loss of goods stored in a storage warehouse, where the evidence fails to show the cause of the fire, it is error to submit the case to the jury. The failure to keep a watchman is not evidence of negligence in such case.</p>