Morrow Crane Company v. Affiliated Fm Insurance Company
Opinion
Opinion
Fletcher, J.
Plaintiff Morrow Crane Company (Morrow) appeals the district court’s judgment after trial in favor of defendant Affiliated FM Insurance Company (FM Insurance) in a dispute over insurance coverage. 686 F.Supp. 265 . We affirm.
FACTS
Morrow, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, is the exclusive United States distributor of large cranes manufactured in Germany by Leibherr, A.G. FM Insurance issued a policy to Morrow insuring against physical loss or damage to Morrow’s cranes during ocean shipment.
The insurance policy contains the following terms relevant to this proceeding:
Morrow contracted with Zuest & Ba-chmeire of Switzerland, Inc. (Z & B), an independent freight forwarding agent, to handle shipments of Liebherr cranes for Morrow. Since June 1981, Z & B has operated under express written instructions from Morrow:
Z & B booked the shipment in question with Euram Lines (Euram), with whom Z & B had a freight contract. Pursuant to this freight contract, Euram was to stow shipments below deck, but reserved the right to stow on deck if necessary.
On this particular voyage, Euram also booked a shipment of steel. Euram decided to stow Morrow’s cargo of cranes on deck to facilitate the…