John stores his sailboat for the winter, at no charge to him, in a warehouse owned by his best friend
Zach. The boat sits on its trailer, and Zach can move it as necessary to make room for other goods that
are also being stored in the warehouse. The men agree that John will retrieve the boat from the
warehouse by April first of the following year. When John arrives on April 1st to pick up his boat, he
learns that it was incinerated in a fire that totally destroyed the warehouse building and all of its
contents. The cause of the fire was a gas heater that malfunctioned and exploded. The heater had been
giving Zach problems for some time and Zach had meant to have it repaired, but he never got around to
that item on his "to do" list.
Question 1: Explain the issues that you would have to analyze to determine whether Zach will be liable
to John for the loss of his boat. Is Zach Liable to John?
Question 2: What difference would it make, in terms of Zach’s liability to John, if Zach had been charging
John a fee for the storage of the boat? Why?
