Giffels v. the Home Insurance Co.

Plaintiff is a Lansing fur retailer who regularly orders coats on consignment from various wholesalers for showing to specific customers. Coats on consignment from New York or Chicago are usually shipped by air, and shipments from Detroit are usually made by bus.

On December 30, 1958, plaintiff called Milton Weiss, a wholesale furrier in Detroit, asking him to ship a certain mink coat, valued at $2,100, by bus on consignment. Weiss replied that since his insurance would not cover the coat if shipped by bus, he would not ship it by bus unless it would be covered by plaintiff’s insurance.…