Short answer. It depends on what was contributed and how. Under Article 1795, the risk of a specific, non-fungible thing contributed only for its use and fruits is borne by the partner who owns it. But if the thing is fungible, perishable, contributed to be sold, or brought and appraised in the inventory, the risk falls on the partnership.
What the law says
The risk of specific and determinate things, which are not fungible, contributed to the partnership so that only their use and fruits may be for the common benefit, shall be borne by the partner who owns them.
Civil Code, Article 1795 — Risk of Contributed Things. Read the full provision →
Owner bears the risk when only use was contributed
Article 1795 sorts out who loses when a contributed thing is destroyed, and it turns on how the thing was contributed. The risk of specific and determinate things, which are not fungible, contributed to the partnership so that only their use and fruits may be for the common benefit, shall be borne by the partner who owns them. So if you contributed a particular machine, keeping ownership and lending only its use and output to the firm, and that exact machine is destroyed, the loss is yours. This mirrors ownership: because you never transferred the thing itself to the partnership, only its use, it perishes on your side of the line.
Partnership bears the risk in three cases
The risk shifts to the partnership when the nature of the contribution means ownership effectively passed or was meant to be consumed. If the things are fungible — interchangeable goods like grain, fuel or money — or cannot be kept without deteriorating, or were contributed to be sold, the risk is the partnership's. The logic is that in each case the individual thing was not meant to survive as the partner's own: fungibles are used up and replaced, perishables will spoil, and things contributed for sale are meant to leave the partner's hands entirely.
Things appraised in the inventory
There is a further rule for contributed things that were listed and valued. In the absence of stipulation, the risk of the things brought and appraised in the inventory shall also be borne by the partnership — and, importantly, the claim shall be limited to the value at which they were appraised. Appraising a thing in the inventory is treated as, in effect, contributing its value rather than the object itself: the partnership takes the risk, but the partner's recovery if it is lost is capped at the appraised figure, not what he might later argue it was worth.
Say how each thing is contributed
The upshot for anyone contributing property is that the words used at the outset decide who loses if the thing is destroyed. Make clear, for each item, whether you are giving the partnership only its use and fruits while keeping ownership, or handing over the thing itself. And take the inventory seriously: listing and appraising a contribution shifts the risk to the firm but caps your claim at the appraised value, so appraise it at what it is honestly worth. Getting this right at contribution time is far easier than arguing, after a fire or a loss, about what was really contributed and who agreed to bear the risk.