A warehouseman is liable for any loss or injury to the goods caused by his failure to exercise such care as a reasonably careful owner of similar goods would exercise, but he is not liable, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, for any loss or injury to the goods coming despite the exercise of such care. Except in the case of fungible goods (those of which any unit is, from its nature or by mercantile custom, treated as the equivalent of any other unit), the warehouseman must keep the goods so far sepa rate from goods of other depositors, and from other goods of the same depositor for which a separate receipt has been issued, as to permit at all times the identification and redelivery of the exact goods deposited. But if authorized by agreement or by custom, a warehouseman may commingle fungible goods with other goods of the same kind and grade; the various depositors then own the commingled goods in common, and are entitled re spectively to shares proportionate to their receipts; and the ware houseman is severally liable to each depositor for the care and redelivery of his share to the same extent and under the same circumstances as if the goods had been kept separate.
If the goods are deposited by the owner or his agent in good faith with a warehouseman who issues for them a negotiable receipt, they cannot, while in the possession of the warehouseman, be attached by garnishment or otherwise, or be levied upon under an execution, unless the receipt be first surrendered to the ware houseman or its negotiation enjoined. This protects the ware houseman. But the courts stand ready to aid a creditor whose debtor is the owner of a negotiable receipt, by injunction or other wise, in attaching such receipt or in satisfying the claim by such means as is allowed at law or in equity.
Satisfaction of Warehouseman's Lien The receipt must state the warehouseman's charges; except for charges for storage of those goods subsequent to the date of the receipt, the amount of each must be expressly stated, if the ware houseman expects to include them in his lien. He has a lien on goods deposited, or on the proceeds thereof in his hands, for all lawful charges for storage and preservation of the goods, for all lawful claims for money advanced, interest, insurance, trans portation, labor, weighing, coopering, and other charges and expenses in relation to such goods; also for all reasonable charges and expenses for notice and advertisements of sale, and for sale of the goods where default has been made in satisfying his lien. The warehouseman's lien may be enforced: (I) against all goods, whenever deposited, belonging to the person who is liable as debtor for the claims in regard to which the lien is asserted; and (2) against all goods belonging to others which have been de posited at any time by the person who is liable as debtor for the claims in regard to which the lien is asserted, if such person had been so entrusted with the possession of the goods that a pledge of the same by him at the time of the deposit, to one who took the goods in good faith for value, would have been valid.
A warehouseman's lien for a claim which has become due may be satisfied as follows: The warehouseman must give a written notice to the person on whose account the goods are held, and to any other person known to the warehouseman to claim an in terest in the goods. This notice must be delivered in person or by registered mail addressed to the last known place of busi ness or abode of the person to be notified. The notice must contain: i. An itemized statement of the warehouseman's claim, showing the sum due at the time of the notice and the date or dates when it became due.
2. A brief description of the goods.
3. A demand that the amount of the claim as stated in the notice, and of such further claim as shall have accrued, be paid on or before a specified date.
4. A statement that unless the claim is paid within the speci fied time the goods will be advertised for sale and sold by auction at a specified time and place.
In accordance with the terms of this notice, a sale of the goods by auction may be had to satisfy the lien from the proceeds, in cluding the reasonable charges of notice, advertisement, and sale. If the goods are of a perishable nature, or by keeping will deteriorate greatly in value, or by their odor, leakage, inflamma bility, or explosive nature, will be liable to injure other property, the warehouseman may give such notice to the owner, or to the person in whose name the goods are stored, as is reasonable and possible under the circumstances, to satisfy the lien upon such goods and to remove them from the warehouse, and, in the event of failure of such person to satisfy the lien and to remove the goods within the time specified, the warehouseman may sell the goods at public or private sale without advertising; and if after a reasonable effort he is unable to sell such goods he may dispose of them in any lawful manner and incur no liability on that ac count. The net excess of the proceeds above the claims is re turned to the rightful owner. Thereafter the warehouseman is free from liability to deliver the goods to the depositor.