407.308(4)
(4) A purchaser in good faith of goods sold to enforce a carrier's lien takes the goods free of any rights of persons against whom the lien was valid, despite noncompliance by the carrier with the requirements of this section.
407.308(5)
(5) The carrier may satisfy the carrier's lien from the proceeds of any sale pursuant to this section but must hold the balance, if any, for delivery on demand to any person to whom the carrier would have been bound to deliver the goods.
407.308(6)
(6) The rights provided by this section are in addition to all other rights allowed by law to a creditor against the creditor's debtor.
407.308(7)
(7) A carrier's lien may be enforced in accordance with either
sub. (1) or the procedure set forth in
s. 407.210 (2).
407.308(8)
(8) The carrier is liable for damages caused by failure to comply with the requirements for sale under this section and in case of wilful violation is liable for conversion.
407.308 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.309
407.309
Duty of care; contractual limitation of carrier's liability. 407.309(1)(1) A carrier who issues a bill of lading whether negotiable or nonnegotiable must exercise the degree of care in relation to the goods which a reasonably careful person would exercise under like circumstances. This subsection does not repeal or change any law or rule of law which imposes liability upon a common carrier for damages not caused by its negligence.
407.309(2)
(2) Damages may be limited by a provision that the carrier's liability shall not exceed a value stated in the document if the carrier's rates are dependent upon value and the consignor by the carrier's tariff is afforded an opportunity to declare a higher value or a value as lawfully provided in the tariff, or where no tariff is filed he or she is otherwise advised of such opportunity; but no such limitation is effective with respect to the carrier's liability for conversion to its own use.
407.309(3)
(3) Reasonable provisions as to the time and manner of presenting claims and instituting actions based on the shipment may be included in a bill of lading or tariff.
407.309 History
History: 1975 c. 94 s.
91 (12);
1991 a. 316.
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING:
GENERAL OBLIGATIONS
407.401
407.401
Irregularities in issue of receipt or bill or conduct of issuer. The obligations imposed by this chapter on an issuer apply to a document of title regardless of the fact that:
407.401(1)
(1) The document may not comply with the requirements of this chapter or of any other law or regulation regarding its issue, form or content; or
407.401(2)
(2) The issuer may have violated laws regulating the conduct of the issuer's business; or
407.401(3)
(3) The goods covered by the document were owned by the bailee at the time the document was issued; or
407.401(4)
(4) The person issuing the document does not come within the definition of warehouse keeper if it purports to be a warehouse receipt.
407.401 History
History: 1983 a. 500 s.
43;
1991 a. 316.
407.402
407.402
Duplicate receipt or bill; overissue. Neither a duplicate nor any other document of title purporting to cover goods already represented by an outstanding document of the same issuer confers any right in the goods, except as provided in the case of bills in a set, overissue of documents for fungible goods and substitutes for lost, stolen or destroyed documents. But the issuer is liable for damages caused by the issuer's overissue or failure to identify a duplicate document as such by conspicuous notation on its face.
407.402 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.403
407.403
Obligation of warehouse keeper or carrier to deliver; excuse. 407.403(1)(1) The bailee must deliver the goods to a person entitled under the document who complies with
subs. (2) and
(3), unless and to the extent that the bailee establishes any of the following:
407.403(1)(a)
(a) Delivery of the goods to a person whose receipt was rightful as against the claimant;
407.403(1)(b)
(b) Damage to or delay, loss or destruction of the goods for which the bailee is not liable;
407.403(1)(c)
(c) Previous sale or other disposition of the goods in lawful enforcement of a lien or on warehouse keeper's lawful termination of storage;
407.403(1)(e)
(e) A diversion, reconsignment or other disposition pursuant to
s. 407.303 or tariff regulating such right;
407.403(1)(f)
(f) Release, satisfaction or any other fact affording a personal defense against the claimant;
407.403(2)
(2) A person claiming goods covered by a document of title must satisfy the bailee's lien where the bailee so requests or where the bailee is prohibited by law from delivering the goods until the charges are paid.
407.403(3)
(3) Unless the person claiming is one against whom the document confers no right under
s. 407.503 (1), that person must surrender for cancellation or notation of partial deliveries any outstanding negotiable document covering the goods, and the bailee must cancel the document or conspicuously note the partial delivery thereon or be liable to any person to whom the document is duly negotiated.
407.403(4)
(4) "Person entitled under the document" means holder in the case of a negotiable document, or the person to whom delivery is to be made by the terms of or pursuant to written instructions under a nonnegotiable document.
407.403 History
History: 1983 a. 500 s.
43;
1991 a. 148,
316.
407.404
407.404
No liability for good faith delivery pursuant to receipt or bill. A bailee who in good faith including observance of reasonable commercial standards has received goods and delivered or otherwise disposed of them according to the terms of the document of title or pursuant to this chapter is not liable therefor. This rule applies even though the person from whom the bailee received the goods had no authority to procure the document or to dispose of the goods and even though the person to whom the bailee delivered the goods had no authority to receive them.
407.404 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING:
NEGOTIATION AND TRANSFER
407.501
407.501
Form of negotiation and requirements of "due negotiation". 407.501(1)(1) A negotiable document of title running to the order of a named person is negotiated by that named person's indorsement and delivery. After the named person's indorsement in blank or to bearer any person can negotiate it by delivery alone.
407.501(2)(a)(a) A negotiable document of title is also negotiated by delivery alone when by its original terms it runs to bearer and has not been indorsed to a specified person.
407.501(2)(b)
(b) When a document running to the order of a named person is delivered to the named person the effect is the same as if the document had been negotiated.
407.501(3)
(3) Negotiation of a negotiable document of title after it has been indorsed to a specified person requires indorsement by the special indorsee as well as delivery.
407.501(4)
(4) A negotiable document of title is "duly negotiated" when it is negotiated in the manner stated in this section to a holder who purchases it in good faith without notice of any defense against or claim to it on the part of any person and for value, unless it is established that the negotiation is not in the regular course of business or financing or involves receiving the document in settlement or payment of a money obligation.
407.501(5)
(5) Indorsement of a nonnegotiable document neither makes it negotiable nor adds to the transferee's rights.
407.501(6)
(6) The naming in a negotiable bill of a person to be notified of the arrival of the goods does not limit the negotiability of the bill nor constitute notice to a purchaser thereof of any interest of such person in the goods.
407.501 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.501 Annotation
Buyer in ordinary course of business under article 9 of the uniform commercial code (and related matters). Skilton, 1974 WLR 1.
407.502
407.502
Rights acquired by due negotiation. 407.502(1)
(1) Subject to
s. 407.503 and to
s. 407.205 on fungible goods, a holder to whom a negotiable document of title has been duly negotiated acquires thereby:
407.502(1)(c)
(c) All rights accruing under the law of agency or estoppel, including rights to goods delivered to the bailee after the document was issued; and
407.502(1)(d)
(d) The direct obligation of the issuer to hold or deliver the goods according to the terms of the document free of any defense or claim by the issuer except those arising under the terms of the document or under this chapter. In the case of a delivery order the bailee's obligation accrues only upon acceptance and the obligation acquired by the holder is that the issuer and any indorser will procure the acceptance of the bailee.
407.502(2)
(2) Subject to
s. 407.503, title and rights so acquired are not defeated by any stoppage of the goods represented by the document or by surrender of such goods by the bailee, and are not impaired even though the negotiation or any prior negotiation constituted a breach of duty or even though any person has been deprived of possession of the document by misrepresentation, fraud, accident, mistake, duress, loss, theft or conversion, or even though a previous sale or other transfer of the goods or document has been made to a third person.
407.502 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.503
407.503
Document of title to goods defeated in certain cases. 407.503(1)(1) A document of title confers no right in goods against a person who before issuance of the document had a legal interest or a perfected security interest in them and who neither:
407.503(1)(a)
(a) Delivered or entrusted them or any document of title covering them to the bailor or the bailor's nominee with actual or apparent authority to ship, store or sell or with power to obtain delivery under
s. 407.403 or with power of disposition under
ss. 402.403 or
409.307 or other statute or rule of law; nor
407.503(1)(b)
(b) Acquiesced in the procurement by the bailor or the bailor's nominee of any document of title.
407.503(2)
(2) Title to goods based upon an unaccepted delivery order is subject to the rights of anyone to whom a negotiable warehouse receipt or bill of lading covering the goods has been duly negotiated. Such a title may be defeated under
s. 407.504 to the same extent as the rights of the issuer or a transferee from the issuer.
407.503(3)
(3) Title to goods based upon a bill of lading issued to a freight forwarder is subject to the rights of anyone to whom a bill issued by the freight forwarder is duly negotiated; but delivery by the carrier in accordance with
ss. 407.401 to
407.404 pursuant to its own bill of lading discharges the carrier's obligation to deliver.
407.503 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.504
407.504
Rights acquired in the absence of due negotiation; effect of diversion; seller's stoppage of delivery. 407.504(1)(1) A transferee of a document, whether negotiable or nonnegotiable, to whom the document has been delivered but not duly negotiated, acquires the title and rights which the transferee's transferor had or had actual authority to convey.
407.504(2)
(2) In the case of a nonnegotiable document, until but not after the bailee receives notification of the transfer, the rights of the transferee may be defeated:
407.504(2)(a)
(a) By those creditors of the transferor who could treat the sale as void under
s. 402.402; or
407.504(2)(b)
(b) By a buyer from the transferor in ordinary course of business if the bailee has delivered the goods to the buyer or received notification of the buyer's rights; or
407.504(2)(c)
(c) As against the bailee by good faith dealings of the bailee with the transferor.
407.504(3)
(3) A diversion or other change of shipping instructions by the consignor in a nonnegotiable bill of lading which causes the bailee not to deliver to the consignee defeats the consignee's title to the goods if they have been delivered to a buyer in ordinary course of business and in any event defeats the consignee's rights against the bailee.
407.504(4)
(4) Delivery pursuant to a nonnegotiable document may be stopped by a seller under
s. 402.705 or a lessor under
s. 411.526, and subject to the requirement of due notification there provided. A bailee honoring the instructions of the seller or lessor is entitled to be indemnified by the seller or lessor against any resulting loss or expense.
407.504 History
History: 1991 a. 148,
316.
407.505
407.505
Indorser not a guarantor for other parties. The indorsement of a document of title issued by a bailee does not make the indorser liable for any default by the bailee or by previous indorsers.
407.506
407.506
Delivery without indorsement: right to compel indorsement. The transferee of a negotiable document of title has a specifically enforceable right to have the transferee's transferor supply any necessary indorsement but the transfer becomes a negotiation only as of the time the indorsement is supplied.
407.506 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.507
407.507
Warranties on negotiation or transfer of receipt or bill. Where a person negotiates or transfers a document of title for value otherwise than as a mere intermediary under
s. 407.508, then unless otherwise agreed that person warrants to that person's immediate purchaser only in addition to any warranty made in selling the goods:
407.507(2)
(2) That that person has no knowledge of any fact which would impair its validity or worth; and
407.507(3)
(3) That that person's negotiation or transfer is rightful and fully effective with respect to the title to the document and the goods it represents.
407.507 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.508
407.508
Warranties of collecting bank as to documents. A collecting bank or other intermediary known to be entrusted with documents on behalf of another or with collection of a draft or other claim against delivery of documents warrants by such delivery of the documents only its own good faith and authority. This rule applies even though the intermediary has purchased or made advances against the claim or draft to be collected.
407.509
407.509
Receipt or bill: when adequate compliance with commercial contract. The question whether a document is adequate to fulfill the obligations of a contract for sale or the conditions of a credit is governed by
chs. 402 and
405.
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING:
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
407.601
407.601
Lost and missing documents. 407.601(1)
(1) If a document has been lost, stolen or destroyed, a court may order delivery of the goods or issuance of a substitute document and the bailee may without liability to any person comply with such order. If the document was negotiable the claimant must post security approved by the court to indemnify any person who may suffer loss as a result of nonsurrender of the document. If the document was not negotiable, such security may be required at the discretion of the court. The court may also in its discretion order payment of the bailee's reasonable costs and counsel fees.
407.601(2)
(2) A bailee who without court order delivers goods to a person claiming under a missing negotiable document is liable to any person injured thereby, and if the delivery is not in good faith becomes liable for conversion. Delivery in good faith is not conversion if made in accordance with a filed classification or tariff or, where no classification or tariff is filed, if the claimant posts security with the bailee in an amount at least double the value of the goods at the time of posting to indemnify any person injured by the delivery who files a notice of claim within one year after the delivery.
407.602
407.602
Attachment of goods covered by a negotiable document. Except where the document was originally issued upon delivery of the goods by a person who had no power to dispose of them, no lien attaches by virtue of any judicial process to goods in the possession of a bailee for which a negotiable document of title is outstanding unless the document be first surrendered to the bailee or its negotiation enjoined, and the bailee shall not be compelled to deliver the goods pursuant to process until the document is surrendered to the bailee or impounded by the court. One who purchases the document for value without notice of the process or injunction takes free of the lien imposed by judicial process.
407.602 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
407.603
407.603
Conflicting claims; interpleader. If more than one person claims title or possession of the goods, the bailee is excused from delivery until the bailee has had a reasonable time to ascertain the validity of the adverse claims or to bring an action to compel all claimants to interplead and may compel such interpleader, either in defending an action for nondelivery of the goods, or by original action, whichever is appropriate.
407.603 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
