DAMAGED BY RATS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1919, Page 6

DAMAGED BY RATS.

LIABILITY OF STORAGE COMPANIES By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christehurcb, June 12. The liability of storage companies for damage to goods in- their possession was the subject of a judgment delivered in the Magistrate's Court by Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M. The case was that in which George Gibson Buiek sued J,M. Heywood and Company, .Ltd., for £BS in respect to damages alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff by reason of the defendant " company having negligently carried out a contract for the storage of plaintiff's goods entered into by the defendant company with the plaintiff. The magistrate said the condition of poods on receipt absolved the company from liability in respect to many causes by which goods might be damaged, but damage by rats was not one of these. The defendant company was not an insurer of the plaintiff's goods, but was merely liable for negligence not relating to the exempted causes. A duty was cast on tlie company to prevent damage by rodents. . No such steps were taken, and as a result the activities of rodents remained unchecked, and it was to be observed that when the plaintiff went to defendant's store to uplift, his goods, they could not at first be found. These facts amounted in law to negligence, and ho assessed damages under that head at £ 15. Judgment was given for plaintiff for £l7, and for the defendant sompany for the balance of the claim, as the I company had succeeded as to the greater part of the claim. Judgment would be aileut ute 4ti»t».