Mr. Li: Mr. Johnson, the consignment arriving at Manila was damaged seriously. Over 30% of the cartons were broken. We have submitted a claim to your insurance company, but they refused to admit liability. They said that there was no insurance against breakage. I don’t know why that could be.

Mr. Johnson: The damage in question was indeed beyond the coverage of your insurance. According to your instructions, we made out an insurance certificate covering W.P.A, but the risk of breakage was not mentioned. We rang up the Ceramics Section of the Light Industrial Products Corporation. However, we were informed that their customer had not asked for a coverage of the risk of breakage.

Mr. Li: When I took W.P.A. insurance, I understood that the risk of breakage must be included because W.P.A. involves a particular average. Breakage is a kind of particular average, isn’t it?

Mr. Johnson: Not every type of breakage is a particular average. It is a particular average only when the breakage is resultant from natural calamities and maritime accidents, such as stranding and sinking of the carrying vessel, or is attributable to fire, explosion or collision. Without the occurrence of any such fortuities, breakage is usually considered as an ordinary loss and means what we call “inherent vice or nature of the subject matter insured”, which is outside the scope of the coverage of W.P.A.

Mr. Li: Oh, I see. Thank you.