Opinion
April 23, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Katz, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
We find that the court properly granted summary judgment to the defendant D.J.L. Warehouse Corp. It is well established that, absent an agreement to the contrary, the owner of a warehouse is not an insurer of goods. As a bailee, an owner of a warehouse is required to exercise reasonable care so as to prevent loss or damage to stored goods (see, UCC 7-204; I.C.C. Metals v Municipal Warehouse Co., 50 N.Y.2d 657). Additionally, where an owner of a warehouse has come forward and explained that the loss of goods was due to theft, it then becomes incumbent upon a plaintiff to prove that the loss was occasioned by the owner's negligence (see, I.C.C. Metals v. Municipal Warehouse Co., supra, at 666; Procter Gamble Distrib. Co. v. Lawrence Am. Field Warehousing Corp., 16 N.Y.2d 344, 359; Claflin v. Meyer, 75 N.Y. 260).
We find that the plaintiffs have not raised any material issue of fact with respect to their claim that the defendant D.J.L. Warehouse Corp. was negligent. It is clear that the warehouse was forcibly broken into in the middle of the night, its alarm system functioned properly, and the police and other security personnel responded quickly to the scene. It does not appear that there was anything further which the defendant D.J.L. Warehouse Corp. could have done to prevent the theft and resultant loss of goods. Mangano, P.J., Bracken, Kunzeman and Harwood, JJ., concur.