77.1010 Short title
This chapter may be cited as Uniform Commercial Code–Documents of Title.
Oregon Revised Statutes
Chapter 77 — Warehouse Receipts, Bills of Lading and Other Documents of Title
42 sections77.1020 Definitions and index of definitions
In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: “Bailee” means a person that by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. “Carrier” means a person that issues a bill of lading. “Consignee” means a person named in a bill of lading to which or to whose order the bil…
77.1030 Relation of chapter to treaty or statute
This chapter is subject to any treaty or statute of the United States or regulatory statute of this state to the extent the treaty, statute or regulatory statute is applicable. This chapter does not modify or repeal any law prescribing the form or content of a document of title or the services or facilities to be afforded by a bailee, or otherwise regulatin…
77.1040 Negotiable and nonnegotiable document of title
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, a document of title is negotiable if by its terms the goods are to be delivered to bearer or to the order of a named person. A document of title other than one described in subsection (1) of this section is nonnegotiable. A bill of lading that states that the goods are consigned to a named pers…
77.1050 Reissuance in alternative medium
Upon request of a person entitled under an electronic document of title, the issuer of the electronic document may issue a tangible document of title as a substitute for the electronic document if: The person entitled under the electronic document surrenders control of the document to the issuer; and The tangible document when issued contains a statement t…
77.1060 Control of electronic document of title
A person has control of an electronic document of title if a system employed for evidencing the transfer of interests in the electronic document reliably establishes that person as the person to which the electronic document was issued or transferred. A system satisfies subsection (1) of this section, and a person has control of an electronic document of ti…
77.2010 Person that may issue a warehouse receipt; storage under bond
A warehouse receipt may be issued by any warehouse. If goods, including distilled spirits and agricultural commodities, are stored under a statute requiring a bond against withdrawal or a license for the issuance of receipts in the nature of warehouse receipts, a receipt issued for the goods is deemed to be a warehouse receipt even if issued by a person tha…
77.2020 Form of warehouse receipt; effect of omission
A warehouse receipt need not be in any particular form. Unless a warehouse receipt provides for each of the following, the warehouse is liable for damages caused to a person injured by its omission: A statement of the location of the warehouse facility where the goods are stored; The date of issue of the receipt; The unique identification code of the rec…
77.2030 Liability for nonreceipt or misdescription
A party to or purchaser for value in good faith of a document of title, other than a bill of lading, that relies upon the description of the goods in the document may recover from the issuer damages caused by the nonreceipt or misdescription of the goods, except to the extent that: The document conspicuously indicates that the issuer does not know whether a…
77.2040 Duty of care; contractual limitation of warehouse’s liability
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. Unless otherwise agreed, the warehouse is not liable for damages that could not have been avoided by the exercise of that care. Damages may be limite…
77.2050 Title under warehouse receipt defeated in certain cases
A buyer in ordinary course of business of fungible goods sold and delivered by a warehouse that is also in the business of buying and selling such goods takes the goods free of any claim under a warehouse receipt even if the receipt is negotiable and has been duly negotiated.
77.2060 Termination of storage at warehouse’s option
A warehouse, by giving notice to the person on whose account the goods are held and any other person known to claim an interest in the goods, may require payment of any charges and removal of the goods from the warehouse at the termination of the period of storage fixed by the document of title, or, if a period is not fixed, within a stated period not less t…
77.2070 Goods must be kept separate; fungible goods
Unless the warehouse receipt provides otherwise, a warehouse shall keep separate the goods covered by each receipt so as to permit at all times identification and delivery of those goods. However, different lots of fungible goods may be commingled. If different lots of fungible goods are commingled, the goods are owned in common by the persons entitled ther…
77.2080 Altered warehouse receipts
If a blank in a negotiable tangible warehouse receipt has been filled in without authority, a good-faith purchaser for value and without notice of the lack of authority may treat the insertion as authorized. Any other unauthorized alteration leaves any tangible or electronic warehouse receipt enforceable against the issuer according to its original tenor.
77.2090 Lien of warehouse
A warehouse has a lien against the bailor on the goods covered by a warehouse receipt or storage agreement or on the proceeds thereof in its possession for charges for storage or transportation, including demurrage and terminal charges, insurance, labor or other charges, present or future, in relation to the goods, and for expenses necessary for preservation…
77.2100 Enforcement of warehouse’s lien
Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, a warehouse’s lien may be enforced by public or private sale of the goods, in bulk or in packages, at any time or place and on any terms that are commercially reasonable, after notifying all persons known to claim an interest in the goods. The notification must include a statement of the amount …
77.3010 Liability for nonreceipt or misdescription; said to contain; shipper’s weight, load and count; improper handling
A consignee of a nonnegotiable bill of lading which has given value in good faith or a holder to which a negotiable bill has been duly negotiated relying upon the description of the goods in the bill or upon the date shown in the bill, may recover from the issuer damages caused by the misdating of the bill or the nonreceipt or misdescription of the goods, ex…
77.3020 Through bills of lading and similar documents of title
The issuer of a through bill of lading or other document of title embodying an undertaking to be performed in part by a person acting as its agent or by a performing carrier is liable to any person entitled to recover on the bill or other document for any breach by the other person or the performing carrier of its obligation under the bill or other document.…
77.3030 Diversion; reconsignment; change of instructions
Unless the bill of lading otherwise provides, a carrier may deliver the goods to a person or destination other than that stated in the bill or may otherwise dispose of the goods, without liability for misdelivery, on instructions from: The holder of a negotiable bill; The consignor on a nonnegotiable bill, even if the consignee has given contrary instructi…
77.3040 Bills of lading in a set
Except as customary in international transportation, a tangible bill of lading may not be issued in a set of parts. The issuer is liable for damages caused by violation of this subsection. If a tangible bill of lading is lawfully issued in a set of parts, each of which contains an identification code and is expressed to be valid only if the goods have not b…
77.3050 Destination bills
Instead of issuing a bill of lading to the consignor at the place of shipment a carrier at the request of the consignor may procure the bill to be issued at destination or at any other place designated in the request. Upon request of any person entitled as against a carrier to control the goods while in transit and on surrender of possession or control of a…
77.3060 Altered bills of lading
An unauthorized alteration or filling in of a blank in a bill of lading leaves the bill enforceable according to its original tenor.
77.3070 Lien of carrier
A carrier has a lien on the goods covered by a bill of lading or on the proceeds thereof in the carrier’s possession for charges after the date of the carrier’s receipt of the goods for storage or transportation, including demurrage and terminal charges, and for expenses necessary for preservation of the goods incident to their transportation or reasonably i…
77.3080 Enforcement of carrier’s lien
A carrier’s lien on goods may be enforced by public or private sale of the goods, in bulk or in packages, at any time or place and on any terms that are commercially reasonable, after notifying all persons known to claim an interest in the goods. The notification must include a statement of the amount due, the nature of the proposed sale and the time and pla…
77.3090 Duty of care; contractual limitation of carrier’s liability
A carrier that issues a bill of lading, whether negotiable or nonnegotiable, shall exercise the degree of care in relation to the goods which a reasonably careful person would exercise under similar circumstances. This subsection does not affect any statute, regulation or rule of law that imposes liability upon a common carrier for damages not caused by its …
77.4010 Irregularities in issue of receipt or bill or conduct of issuer
The obligations imposed by this chapter on an issuer apply to a document of title even if: The document does not comply with the requirements of this chapter or of any other statute, rule or regulation regarding its issuance, form or content; The issuer violated laws regulating the conduct of its business; The goods covered by the document were owned by t…
77.4020 Duplicate document of title; overissue
A duplicate or any other document of title purporting to cover goods already represented by an outstanding document of the same issuer does not confer any right in the goods, except as provided in the case of tangible bills of lading in a set of parts, overissue of documents for fungible goods, substitutes for lost, stolen or destroyed documents or substitut…
77.4030 Obligation of bailee to deliver; excuse
A bailee shall deliver the goods to a person entitled under a document of title if the person complies with subsections (2) and (3) of this section unless and to the extent that the bailee establishes any of the following: Delivery of the goods to a person whose receipt was rightful as against the claimant; Damage to or delay, loss or destruction of the go…
77.4040 No liability for good faith delivery pursuant to document of title
A bailee that in good faith has received goods and delivered or otherwise disposed of the goods according to the terms of a document of title or pursuant to this chapter is not liable for the goods even if: The person from which the bailee received the goods did not have authority to procure the document or to dispose of the goods; or The person to which t…
77.5010 Form of negotiation and requirements of due negotiation
The following rules apply to a negotiable tangible document of title: If the document’s original terms run to the order of a named person, the document is negotiated by the named person’s indorsement and delivery. After the named person’s indorsement in blank or to bearer, any person may negotiate the document by delivery alone. If the document’s original …
77.5020 Rights acquired by due negotiation
Subject to ORS 77.2050 and 77.5030, a holder to which a negotiable document of title has been duly negotiated acquires thereby: Title to the document; Title to the goods; All rights accruing under the law of agency or estoppel, including rights to goods delivered to the bailee after the document was issued; and The direct obligation of the issuer to hold…
77.5030 Document of title to goods defeated in certain cases
A document of title confers no right in goods against a person that before issuance of the document had a legal interest or a perfected security interest in the goods and that did not: Deliver or entrust the goods or any document of title covering the goods to the bailor or the bailor’s nominee with: Actual or apparent authority to ship, store or sell; Po…
77.5040 Rights acquired in the absence of due negotiation; effect of diversion; stoppage of delivery
A transferee of a document of title, whether negotiable or nonnegotiable, to which the document has been delivered but not duly negotiated, acquires the title and rights that the document’s transferor had or had actual authority to convey. In the case of a transfer of a nonnegotiable document of title, until but not after the bailee receives notice of the t…
77.5050 Indorser not a guarantor for other parties
The indorsement of a tangible document of title issued by a bailee does not make the indorser liable for any default by the bailee or by previous indorsers.
77.5060 Delivery without indorsement; right to compel indorsement
The transferee of a negotiable tangible document of title has a specifically enforceable right to have the document’s transferor supply any necessary indorsement, but the transfer becomes a negotiation only as of the time the indorsement is supplied.
77.5070 Warranties on negotiation or delivery of document of title
If a person negotiates or delivers a document of title for value, otherwise than as a mere intermediary under ORS 77.5080, unless otherwise agreed, the transferor, in addition to any warranty made in selling or leasing the goods, warrants to the immediate purchaser only that: The document is genuine; The transferor does not have knowledge of any fact that …
77.5080 Warranties of collecting bank as to documents
A collecting bank or other intermediary known to be entrusted with documents of title on behalf of another or with collection of a draft or other claim against delivery of documents warrants by the delivery of the documents only its own good faith and authority even if the collecting bank or other intermediary has purchased or made advances against the claim…
77.5090 Adequate compliance with commercial contract
Whether a document of title is adequate to fulfill the obligations of a contract for sale, a contract for lease or the conditions of a letter of credit is determined by ORS chapter 72, 72A or 75. WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS AND BILLS OF LADING: MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
77.6010 Lost, stolen or destroyed documents of title
If a document of title is lost, stolen or destroyed, a court may order delivery of the goods or issuance of a substitute document and the bailee may without liability to any person comply with the order. If the document was negotiable, a court may not order delivery of the goods or issuance of a substitute document without the claimant’s posting security unl…
77.6020 Judicial process against goods covered by negotiable document of title
Unless a document of title was originally issued upon delivery of the goods by a person that did not have power to dispose of them, a lien does not attach by virtue of any judicial process to goods in the possession of a bailee for which a negotiable document of title is outstanding unless possession or control of the document is first surrendered to the bai…
77.6030 Conflicting claims; interpleader
If more than one person claims title to or possession of the goods, the bailee is excused from delivery until the bailee has a reasonable time to ascertain the validity of the adverse claims or to commence an action for interpleader. The bailee may assert an interpleader either in defending an action for nondelivery of the goods or by original action.
77.6040 [1961 c.726 §77.6040; 1995 c.79 §27; repealed by 2009 c.181 §116]
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