Murray Oil Products, Inc. v. Royal Exchange Assurance Co

In Murray Oil Products, Inc. v. Royal Exchange Assurance Co., (21 NY2d 440, 235 N.E.2d 762, 288 NYS2d 618 [1968]), one month after plaintiff delivered 300,600 pounds of vegetable oil to a storage company for storage in its tanks, the storage company became insolvent and had insufficient oil in its possession to return all the oil the plaintiff had deposited with it. In that case, the deposits of various bailors were not segregated but were commingled in several large tanks. Therefore, when the plaintiff in Murray Oil attempted to retrieve its deposit, it was 70,000 pounds short. As a result, plaintiff lost 70,000 pounds of oil. In finding that the plaintiff suffered a "physical loss" under the terms of plaintiff's insurance policy the Court of Appeals stated "the insured bailee ... was not able to deliver the oil due to a physical loss." There simply was not 70,000 pounds of oil available for return to plaintiff. (Id. at 445)