407.309 Duty of care; contractual limitation of carrier's liability.
SUBCHAPTER IV
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING:
GENERAL OBLIGATIONS
407.401 Irregularities in issue of receipt or bill or conduct of issuer.
407.402 Duplicate receipt or bill; overissue.
407.403 Obligation of warehouse keeper or carrier to deliver; excuse.
407.404 No liability for good faith delivery pursuant to receipt or bill.
SUBCHAPTER V
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING: NEGOTIATION AND TRANSFER
407.501 Form of negotiation and requirements of "due negotiation".
407.502 Rights acquired by due negotiation.
407.503 Document of title to goods defeated in certain cases.
407.504 Rights acquired in the absence of due negotiation; effect of diversion; seller's stoppage of delivery.
407.505 Endorser not a guarantor for other parties.
407.506 Delivery without endorsement: right to compel endorsement.
407.507 Warranties on negotiation or transfer of receipt or bill.
407.508 Warranties of collecting bank as to documents.
407.509 Receipt or bill: when adequate compliance with commercial contract.
SUBCHAPTER VI
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING:
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
407.601 Lost and missing documents.
407.602 Attachment of goods covered by a negotiable document.
407.603 Conflicting claims; interpleader.
Ch. 407 Cross-reference
Cross-reference: See definitions in s.
401.201.
GENERAL
407.101
407.101
Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as uniform commercial code—documents of title.
407.102
407.102
Definitions and index of definitions. 407.102(1)
(1) In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
407.102(1)(a)
(a) "Bailee" means the person who by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them.
407.102(1)(b)
(b) "Consignee" means the person named in a bill to whom or to whose order the bill promises delivery.
407.102(1)(c)
(c) "Consignor" means the person named in a bill as the person from whom the goods have been received for shipment.
407.102(1)(d)
(d) "Delivery order" means a written order to deliver goods directed to a warehouse keeper, carrier or other person who in the ordinary course of business issues warehouse receipts or bills of lading.
407.102(1)(f)
(f) "Goods" means all things which are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract of storage or transportation.
407.102(1)(g)
(g) "Issuer" means a bailee who issues a document except that in relation to an unaccepted delivery order it means the person who orders the possessor of goods to deliver. Issuer includes any person for whom an agent or employee purports to act in issuing a document if the agent or employee has real or apparent authority to issue documents notwithstanding that the issuer received no goods or that the goods were misdescribed or that in any other respect the agent or employee violated the issuer's instructions.
407.102(1)(h)
(h) "Warehouse keeper" is a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire.
407.102(2)
(2) Other definitions applying to this chapter or to specified sections thereof, and the sections in which they appear are:
407.102(3)
(3) Definitions in other chapters applying to this chapter and the sections in which they appear are:
407.102(4)
(4) In addition
ch. 401 contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this chapter.
407.102 History
History: 1983 a. 500 s.
43;
1991 a. 148,
316.
407.103
407.103
Relation of chapter to treaty, statute, tariff, classification or regulation; laws not repealed. 407.103(1)
(1) To the extent that any treaty or statute of the United States, regulatory statute of this state or tariff, classification or regulation filed or issued pursuant thereto is applicable, the provisions of this chapter are subject thereto.
407.103(2)
(2) This chapter does not repeal or modify any laws prescribing the form or contents of documents of title or the services or facilities to be afforded by bailees, or otherwise regulating bailees' businesses in respects not specifically dealt with herein; but the fact that such laws are violated does not affect the status of a document of title which otherwise complies with the definition of a document of title in
s. 401.201.
407.104
407.104
Negotiable and nonnegotiable warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title. 407.104(1)
(1) A warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title is negotiable:
407.104(1)(a)
(a) If by its terms the goods are to be delivered to bearer or to the order of a named person; or
407.104(1)(b)
(b) Where recognized in overseas trade, if it runs to a named person or assigns.
407.104(2)
(2) Any other document is nonnegotiable. A bill of lading in which it is stated that the goods are consigned to a named person is not made negotiable by a provision that the goods are to be delivered only against a written order signed by the same or another named person.
407.105
407.105
Construction against negative implication. The omission from either
ss. 407.201 to
407.210 or
ss. 407.301 to
407.309 of a provision corresponding to a provision contained in the other group of sections does not imply that a corresponding rule of law is not applicable.
WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS: SPECIAL PROVISIONS
407.201
407.201
Who may issue a warehouse receipt; storage under government bond. 407.201(1)
(1) A warehouse receipt may be issued by any warehouse keeper.
407.201(2)
(2) Where goods including distilled spirits and agricultural commodities are stored under a statute requiring a bond against withdrawal or a license for the issuance of receipts in the nature of warehouse receipts, a receipt issued for the goods has like effect as a warehouse receipt even though issued by a person who is the owner of the goods and is not a warehouse keeper.
407.201 History
History: 1983 a. 500 s.
43.
407.202
407.202
Form of warehouse receipt; essential terms; optional terms. 407.202(1)(1) A warehouse receipt need not be in any particular form.
407.202(2)
(2) Unless a warehouse receipt embodies within its written or printed terms each of the following, the warehouse keeper is liable for damages caused by the omission to a person injured thereby:
407.202(2)(a)
(a) The location of the warehouse where the goods are stored;
407.202(2)(d)
(d) A statement whether the goods received will be delivered to the bearer, to a specified person, or to a specified person or the specified person's order;
407.202(2)(e)
(e) The rate of storage and handling charges, except that where goods are stored under a field warehousing arrangement a statement of that fact is sufficient on a nonnegotiable receipt;
407.202(2)(f)
(f) A description of the goods or of the packages containing them;
407.202(2)(g)
(g) The signature of the warehouse keeper, which may be made by the warehouse keeper's authorized agent;
407.202(2)(h)
(h) If the receipt is issued for goods of which the warehouse keeper is owner, either solely or jointly or in common with others, the fact of such ownership; and
407.202(2)(i)
(i) A statement of the amount of advances made and of liabilities incurred for which the warehouse keeper claims a lien or security interest (
s. 407.209). If the precise amount of such advances made or of such liabilities incurred is, at the time of the issue of the receipt, unknown to the warehouse keeper or to the warehouse keeper's agent who issues it, a statement of the fact that advances have been made or liabilities incurred and the purpose thereof is sufficient.
407.202(3)
(3) A warehouse keeper may insert in his or her receipt any other terms which are not contrary to
chs. 401 to
411 and do not impair his or her obligation of delivery (
s. 407.403) or his or her duty of care (
s. 407.204). Any contrary provisions are ineffective.
407.203
407.203
Liability for nonreceipt or misdescription. A party to or purchaser for value in good faith of a document of title other than a bill of lading relying in either case upon the description therein of the goods may recover from the issuer damages caused by the nonreceipt or misdescription of the goods, except to the extent that the document conspicuously indicates that the issuer does not know whether any part or all of the goods in fact were received or conform to the description, as where the description is in terms of marks or labels or kind, quantity or condition, or the receipt or description is qualified by "contents, condition and quality unknown", "said to contain" or the like, if such indication be true, or the party or purchaser otherwise has notice.
407.204
407.204
Duty of care; contractual limitation of warehouse keeper's liability. 407.204(1)
(1) A warehouse keeper is liable for damages for loss of or injury to the goods caused by failure to exercise such care in regard to them as a reasonably careful person would exercise under like circumstances but unless otherwise agreed the warehouse keeper is not liable for damages which could not have been avoided by the exercise of such care.
407.204(2)
(2) Damages may be limited by a conspicuous term in the warehouse receipt or storage agreement limiting the amount of liability in case of loss or damage, and setting forth a specific liability per article or item, or value per unit of weight, beyond which the warehouse keeper shall not be liable; however, such liability may on written request of the bailor at the time of signing such storage agreement or within a reasonable time after receipt of the warehouse receipt be increased on part or all of the goods thereunder, in which event increased rates may be charged based on such increased valuation, but no such increase shall be permitted contrary to a lawful limitation of liability contained in the warehouse keeper's tariff, if any. No such limitation is effective with respect to the warehouse keeper's liability for conversion to the warehouse keeper's own use.
407.204(3)
(3) Reasonable provisions as to the time and manner of presenting claims and instituting actions based on the bailment may be included in the warehouse receipt or tariff.
407.205
407.205
Title under warehouse receipt defeated in certain cases. A buyer in the ordinary course of business of fungible goods sold and delivered by a warehouse keeper who is also in the business of buying and selling such goods takes free of any claim under a warehouse receipt even though it has been duly negotiated.
407.205 History
History: 1983 a. 500 s.
43.
407.206
407.206
Termination of storage at warehouse keeper's option. 407.206(1)(1) A warehouse keeper may on notifying the person on whose account the goods are held and any other person known to claim an interest in the goods require payment of any charges and removal of the goods from the warehouse at the termination of the period of storage fixed by the document, or, if no period is fixed, within a stated period not less than 30 days after the notification. If the goods are not removed before the date specified in the notification, the warehouse keeper may sell them in accordance with
s. 407.210 on enforcement of a warehouse keeper's lien.
407.206(2)
(2) If a warehouse keeper in good faith believes that the goods are about to deteriorate or decline in value to less than the amount of the warehouse keeper's lien within the time prescribed in
sub. (1) for notification, advertisement and sale, the warehouse keeper may specify in the notification any reasonable shorter time for removal of the goods and in case the goods are not removed, may sell them at public sale held not less than one week after publication of a class 1 notice, under
ch. 985.
407.206(3)
(3) If as a result of a quality or condition of the goods of which the warehouse keeper had no notice at the time of deposit the goods are a hazard to other property or to the warehouse or to persons, the warehouse keeper may sell the goods at public or private sale without advertisement on reasonable notification to all persons known to claim an interest in the goods. If the warehouse keeper after a reasonable effort is unable to sell the goods the warehouse keeper may dispose of them in any lawful manner and shall incur no liability by reason of such disposition.
