Legal Environment of Business 8th Edition by Henry Cheeseman

Exercise 5

Risk of Loss Martin Silver ordered two rooms of furniture from Wycombe, Meyer Co., Inc. (Wycombe), a manufacturer and seller of custom-made furniture. On February 23, 1982, Wycombe sent invoices to Silver, advising him that the furniture was ready for shipment. Silver tendered payment in full for the goods and asked that one room of furniture be shipped immediately and that the other be held for shipment on a later date. Before any instructions were received as to the second room of furniture, it was destroyed in a fire. Silver and his insurance company attempted to recover the money he had paid for the destroyed furniture. Wycombe refused to return the payment, claiming that the risk of loss was on Silver. Who wins? Silver v. Wycombe, Meyer Co., Inc. , 124 Misc.2d 717, 477 N.Y.S.2d 288, Web 1984 N.Y.Misc. Lexis 3319 (Civil Court of the City of New York)