Prager & Bear, Inc. v. Federal Insurance

Plaintiff, Prager & Bear, Inc., appeals from a judgment determining that plaintiff should recover nothing against defendant, Federal Insurance Company, in plaintiff’s action for the recovery of inventory losses under a policy of employee fidelity insurance.

Trial was had before the court, sitting without a jury. After the court had rendered its intended decision, plaintiff requested and, at the court’s direction, defendant filed, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. However, plaintiff later withdrew its request, so we do not have the benefit of the trial court’s findings of fact or conclusions of law. Therefore, we must look to the trial court’s memorandum of intended decision in order to ascertain the grounds and theory of its decision and to learn the process by which it reached such decision. (Warren Southwest, Inc. v. Wicks (1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 152, 155 [ 80 Cal.Rptr. 723 ].)

Plaintiff is a wholesale distributor of textiles. As a distributor, plaintiff maintained a warehouse in San Francisco where it received textiles from manufacturers in lots of 500 yards, which plaintiff then broke into bolts of 20 yards each. These were stored until they were…