Wimble, Sons & Co v Rosenberg & Sons
Under an FOB contract, the seller need not give the buyer notice to enable him to insure the goods, where the buyer has enough information to insure them himself.
Facts
Rosenberg sold goods on FOB terms to Wimble, for shipment from Antwerp to Odessa. The buyer nominated the ship, and the seller loaded the goods onto it, but did not tell the buyer the name of the ship or the date of shipment. The ship sank, and the goods were lost. The buyer, which had not insured them, argued that the seller should have given it notice under section 32(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1893, so that it could insure the goods.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal held, by a majority, that the seller was not in breach. The buyer had chosen the ship itself, and had enough information to insure the goods, so it did not need notice from the seller. Section 32(3), which requires the seller to give notice to enable the buyer to insure goods sent by sea, did not apply where the buyer already had the information needed to insure them. The risk of loss was therefore on the buyer.
Related cases on international sales and documentary credits
- Arnhold Karberg & Co v Blythe, Green, Jourdain & Co [1916] 1 KB 495
- Biddell Brothers v E Clemens Horst Co [1912] AC 18
- Bunge Corp v Tradax Export SA [1981] 1 WLR 711
- Comptoir d'Achat et de Vente du Boerenbond Belge SA v Luis de Ridder Limitada (The Julia) [1949] AC 293
- Discount Records Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 315
- Edward Owen Engineering Ltd v Barclays Bank International Ltd [1978] QB 159
- Equitable Trust Co of New York v Dawson Partners Ltd (1927) 27 Ll L Rep 49
- Gill & Duffus SA v Berger & Co Inc [1984] AC 382
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