2020 Georgia Code
Title 10 - Commerce and Trade
Chapter 4 - Warehousemen
Article 1 - State Licensed and Bonded Warehouses
§ 10-4-21. Obligation of Warehouseman to Deliver; Effect of Loss or Damage

Every warehouseman conducting a warehouse under this article shall, without unnecessary delay, deliver the agricultural product as described on each warehouse receipt issued by him upon a demand made by the holder of a receipt for such agricultural product if the demand be accompanied by:

1. An offer to satisfy the warehouseman's lien;
2. An offer to surrender the receipt and, if negotiable, with such endorsements as would be necessary for the negotiation of the receipt; and
3. An offer to sign, when the product is delivered, an acknowledgment that it has been delivered if such signature is requested by the warehouseman;

   provided, however, that where an agricultural product is stored identity preserved, the actual agricultural product shall be delivered; provided, further, that no warehouseman shall be deemed to have violated this Code section by failure to deliver any agricultural product in accordance with its provisions, if such failure is due to loss or damage of the product from a hazard against which insurance is not required under Code Section 10-4-25 and the regulations issued by the Commissioner pursuant thereto and where such loss or damage does not result from a failure of such warehouseman to exercise that degree of care which an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in the care and protection of his own property; and, provided, further, that in case of an insured loss such demand may be satisfied by payment of the market value of the product lost or damaged.

(Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 412, § 15; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 10.)

- Warehousemen's liens generally, §§ 11-7-209,11-7-210.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Warehouseman may be liable without demand.

- Although the general rule is that a warehouseman's duty to deliver goods will not arise until there has been a demand, when a demand would clearly have been unavailing, a warehouseman may be held liable for failure to deliver the goods in the absence of any demand. Planters & Citizens Bank v. Home Ins. Co., 786 F. Supp. 977 (S.D. Ga. 1992), aff'd, 992 F.2d 328 (11th Cir. 1993).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 78 Am. Jur. 2d, Warehouses, § 126 et seq.

Warehouseman's Failure to Care for Stored Property - Deterioration of Perishable Goods, 20 POF2d 371.

- 93 C.J.S., Warehousemen and Safe Depositaries, § 108 et seq.

- Law regarding confusion of goods as applied to livestock, 10 A.L.R. 765.

Right of purchaser of warehouse receipt against warehouseman, 38 A.L.R. 1205.

Statute of limitations governing damage action against warehouseman for loss of or damage to stored goods, 23 A.L.R.2d 1466.

Damages recoverable from warehouseman for negligence causing injury to, or destruction of, goods of a perishable nature, 32 A.L.R.2d 910.

Confusion of goods by accident, mistake, or act of a third person, 39 A.L.R.2d 555.

Warehouseman's liability for injury to or destruction of stored goods from floods, heavy rains, or the like, 60 A.L.R.2d 1097.

Sufficiency of warehouseman's precautions to protect goods against fire, 42 A.L.R.3d 908.