Plaintiff, a German wine producer and exporter, contracted to ship 620 cases of wine to the
defendant, a distributor in North Carolina. The contract did not specify the shipment as
destination.
Defendant called repeatedly to find out the status of the shipment and was not given a
shipping date
Later, without notifying the defendant, the plaintiff delivered the wine to a shipping line in
Rotterdam, destined for Wilmington, N.C. The ship and the wine were lost at sea en route
to Wilmington. When the defendant refused to pay on the contract, the plaintiff sued.
Question: Which party wins? Why?
The defendant would win this case. If the defendant was notified of when and where the
shipping was taking place, then they would be able to have the delivery covered by
insurance or otherwise protected. Since the defendant repeatedly called to gain information
on the shipment and their request was repeatedly denied, the burden of the cost of the wine
would not be transferred to them. The wine producer is completely at fault given that they
were the only one who knew what was going on with the shipment and delivery. “ If the
seller does not make a reasonable contract for delivery or notify the buyer and a material
delay or loss results, the buyer has the right to reject the shipment” (page 576 of the
textbook).