The First Department determined the relationship between the fine art dealer (Chowalski) and the defendant warehouse was that of bailor/bailee with respect to stored artworks. Under the UCC the bailee (warehouse) cannot contract away liability for damage caused by lack of due care. Therefore, the waiver of subrogation in the bailment agreement was not enforceable. There was a question of fact whether the failure to move the stored artworks as Hurricane Sandy approached constituted a failure to exercise the level of care mandated by the UCC:
UCC 7-204(a) provides that a “warehouse is liable for damages for loss of or injury to the goods caused by its failure to exercise care with regard to the goods that a reasonably careful person would exercise under similar circumstances” and “is not liable for damages that could not have been avoided by the exercise of that care.” UCC 7-204(b) provides that “[d]amages may be limited by a term in the warehouse receipt or storage agreement limiting the amount of liability in case of loss or damage beyond which the warehouse is not liable.” However, such limitations on liability are limited by UCC 7-202(c), which provides that such terms must not “impair its . . . duty of care under Section 7-204. Any contrary provision is ineffective.”
Here there is a question of fact concerning whether defendant, in failing to move Chowaiki's goods to either another floor, or to a location above ground level on the floor they were on, was reasonable under the circumstances. If the trier of fact finds that defendant did not act reasonably, then defendant may be liable for damages to Chowaiki's goods .
… [T]he court erred in finding that the waiver of subrogation contained in the agreement's loss/damage waiver is enforceable and bars this action.
Provisions purporting to exempt the bailee from liability for damage to stored goods from perils against which the bailor had secured insurance, even when caused by the bailee's negligence have been held to run afoul of the statutory scheme of UCC Article 7. XL Specialty Ins. Co. v Christie's Fine Art Stor. Servs., Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op 01901, 1st Dept 3-17-16
INSURANCE LAW (BAILEE CANNOT, UNDER THE UCC, CONTRACT AWAY LIABILITY FOR LACK OF CARE IN STORING GOODS, WAIVER OF SUBROGATION UNENFORCEABLE)/UCC (BAILEE CANNOT, UNDER THE UCC, CONTRACT AWAY LIABILITY FOR LACK OF CARE IN STORING GOODS, WAIVER OF SUBROGATION UNENFORCEABLE)/CONTRACT LAW (BAILEE CANNOT, UNDER THE UCC, CONTRACT AWAY LIABILITY FOR LACK OF CARE IN STORING GOODS, WAIVER OF SUBROGATION UNENFORCEABLE)/BAILMENT (BAILEE CANNOT, UNDER THE UCC, CONTRACT AWAY LIABILITY FOR LACK OF CARE IN STORING GOODS, WAIVER OF SUBROGATION UNENFORCEABLE)/SUBROGATION (BAILEE CANNOT, UNDER THE UCC, CONTRACT AWAY LIABILITY FOR LACK OF CARE IN STORING GOODS, WAIVER OF SUBROGATION UNENFORCEABLE)