When one thinks of the average warehouse, images of boxes and pallets, forklifts and warehouse workers hopping up and down on pallets to reach for the highest box could come to mind. In fact, this may be the extent of your knowledge on warehouses. What role could this possibly play in the world of sports? The concept of a warehouse is obviously broader than that. There are facilities which can fairly be considered a warehouse in their entirety, for example storage units, as well as smaller portions of larger buildings which exclusively serve as storage for various products. This post will focus on the responsibilities of a warehouseman within a warehouse, and the legal obligations that arise when a warehouseman stores “goods or merchandise” for bailors. The lacrosse world often sees families who have a tendency to use storage solutions for their equipment. It can be very useful to mobile rentals as we are all faced when we approach a lacrosse field. Having knowledge of warehouseman’s legal liability can enable families and program coordinators to be more informed about their options for leases and insurance coverages at such facilities.

The warehouseman’s legal liability is essentially the liability of a warehouseman to protect the goods they receive into custody. Notably, unlike most contracts, a bailment contract (a type of contract which entails the temporary possession of an individual’s property) does not have to be in writing to be enforceable. The duties of a warehouseman vary according to the type of bailment but generally, the highest duty owed by the warehouseman is for the benefit of the bailor (the party delivering the goods into custody) and as a result the warehouseman is liable for slight negligence that results in harm to the bailor’s property. The allocation of risk and obligations within the context of an agreement to warehouse goods with a lease or insurer could be a good ways to mitigate any potential issues. Encapsulated within the broader meaning of warehouse are certain kinds of liability. This article aims to highlight these legalities, provide real life anecdotes, and explain to families and program coordinators why it may be of value to understand these legal aspects.

The warehouseman is responsible for the safe keeping of the goods in its possession and must not allow any other individual access to the property without the permission of the bailor. The warehouseman as the bailee, is also responsible for handling the goods in a manner consistent with other warehousemen in the business. For instance, the warehouseman must keep merchandise stored in a clean and dry place where temperature variations are not so pronounced to cause damage to the goods. Because of the duty of reasonable care owed by the warehouseman, there are certain duties which fall implicitly within the scope of the warehouseman’s job, such as the duty to:

A warehouseman will be held liable if there is any failure to meaningfully protect the property and if there is any damage or destruction of the property. Lacrosse programs often use storage solutions to have an easy source of uniform and equipment access. In the instance that storage of such equipment is not stored properly, physical and legal damages could arise from the loss of the equipment including representations made by that equipment such as team name or number. Such issues could require costly and time consuming adjustments, which could be avoided with a little foresight and information.

A warehouseman’s legal liability has already played a role in influencing sporting events or programs. A memory of a high school lacrosse team in Ottawa Canada endured cancellation of their school’s lacrosse championship game due to the lack of equipment storage space being allocated to the team. This unfortunate turn of events was avoidable if those responsible for the equipment possessed more awareness of the legal issues at hand. It is beneficial to those who are involved in these events or programs to have at least a basic understanding of how legal issues have previously influenced their respective events and programs, because if the legally responsible parties are not educated, the overall program could suffer and fall into a debacle. A practical way to mitigate against such outcomes is to inform yourself on the allocation of insurance coverage, and more specifically, the extent of coverage by a deductible. For instance, it would be reasonable to expect that any missing equipment be provided by the team member who rented it. However, depending on the intended storage options the excess amount owed to replenish the missing equipment could be greater and more burdensome than anticipated. This is especially true with more expensive equipment that has a high rental cost with a relatively low maximum limit on insurance coverage.

For more information on legal liability in storage and warehousing, you can visit this Wikipedia page.

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