Don't Delay Preventing Hair Loss

Beauty Plus Trading Co. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., NO. A-3380-16T3, 2018 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1917, 2018 WL 3848386 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. August 14, 2018).

By: Cameron Robichaux

In a per curiam decision by the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division, the court affirmed summary judgement denying insurance coverage for the theft of “human hair weave.” The contract was composed of three main clauses: Warehouse to Warehouse, Loading and Unloading, and Storage Coverage. Because the hair was delivered to the warehouse property and was not loaded into the actual warehouse for storage, the Warehouse to Warehouse and Storage Coverage clauses were not applicable. The main clause in dispute was the Loading and Unloading clause which provided coverage for twenty-four hours after receipt at the final destination.The “human hair weave” was stolen twenty-eight hours after the delivery of the product at 5:00 P.M. Friday because the Plaintiff failed to secure the product inside the warehouse. In determining the outcome the court interpreted the contract which was written clearly and unambiguously to limit the risk to the insurance company to twenty-four hours. The court also found the contract did not require any action of loading by the Plaintiff to secure the coverage.For those reasons, the court denied the argument that the next business day rule should extend coverage over the entire weekend reasoning the next day business rule only applies when the insured must take actions to complete the contract. Further, the court explained extending coverage would create “a better policy of insurance than the one [Plaintiff] purchased.”