Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Warehouse liability
  • 15 May 1978

    BANK NEGARA INDONESIA v. THE HONG KONG AND KOWLOON WHARF AND GODOWN CO LTD

    Citation
    BANK NEGARA INDONESIA v. THE HONG KONG AND KOWLOON WHARF AND GODOWN CO LTD
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCA1141/1969

    On balance the court found the goods were genuine and valued as per the commercial documents; the defendant released the goods pursuant to a forged endorsement and its servant failed to perform the contractual obligation to compare endorsements with supplied authorised signatures; that failure was a fundamental breach (or deviation) that resulted in total loss and rendered further performance impossible; therefore the defendant could not rely on its exclusion or limitation clauses and was liable to the plaintiff for the full amount claimed with costs.