Abercrombie v. Edwards
| Decision Date | 19 December 1916 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 8119 |
| Citation | 161 P. 1084,62 Okla. 54,1916 OK 1031 |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
| Parties | ABERCROMBIE et al. v. EDWARDS et al. |
¶0 1. Innkeepers.--Liabilities--Loss of Goods.
Under the common law, where property is brought to a hotel for the purpose of sale or show, such as the goods of commercial travelers, the law does not hold the innkeeper to his strict liability, but only to the exercise of ordinary care, and makes him answerable only for his negligence.
2. Same.
Under sec. 1113, Rev. Laws 1910, an inn keeper is liable for all losses of, or injuries to, personal property placed by his guests or boarders under his care, unless occasioned by an irresistible, superhuman cause, by a public enemy, by the negligence of the owner, or by the act of some one whom he brought into the inn or boarding house.
3. Same--"Personal Property."
The words "personal property," as used in this act, embrace the samples of traveling salesmen.
4. Same--Loss of Goods--"Placed Under His Care."
The provision of this statute that the innkeeper is liable for goods of his guests, "placed under his care," is declaratory of the common law, not restrictive thereof. Under such provision it is not necessary, in order to render the innkeeper liable for their loss, that the goods be placed under his special care, or that notice be given of their arrival. It is sufficient if they are brought into the inn in the usual and ordinary way and are not retained under the exclusive control of the guest, but are under the general and implied control of the innkeeper.
5. Same--Question for Jury.
Whether the liability thus imposed is excused by the negligence of the guest, contributing to the loss is in this state a question for the jury.
6. Same.
Evidence examined, and held sufficient as against a demurrer thereto.
Error from District Court, Custer County; T. A. Edwards, Judge.
Action by W. A. Abercrombie and another against Sarah Edwards and another. From a judgment sustaining a demurrer to the evidence, plaintiffs bring error. Reversed, and new trial ordered.
Phillips & Mills, for plaintiffs in error.
Geo. T. Webster, for defendants in error.
¶1 This suit was instituted by the plaintiffs in error against the defendants in error to recover the value of a certain sample trunk and its contents. The plaintiff's evidence showed that he was a traveling salesman, and that the goods lost were samples which he carried for the purpose of show and display. His trunk was placed in the sample room of the hotel by a baggageman employed by him, and after it had remained there for a considerable period of time finally was found to be missing, and it was presumed that the same had been stolen.
¶2 There was evidence tending to show that it was customary for commercial travelers to have their sample trunks placed in the sample room, and that the plaintiff had followed this custom during five or six years previous to the loss of his trunk, and that he knew of no other place provided for sample trunks. There was also evidence that the proprietress of the hotel had a room in the third story where property placed specially in her care was locked up and stored. There was evidence that the proprietor of one of the bus and baggage lines in Clinton, where the hotel was located, was paid a weekly stipend to solicit guests for the hotel, and that he commonly placed their baggage, without special instruction, as he knew what to do with it. There was no proof, however, that this particular baggageman handled the trunk for plaintiff when last placed in the sample room, plaintiff's testimony only going so far as to establish that he usually employed such baggageman. The proprietress, introduced as a witness by plaintiff, testified positively that she did not know that the trunk was placed in the sample room. The only evidence tending to show knowledge was testimony that on one occasion some months previous to the loss one of the hotel clerks saw the trunk in the sample room and examined a part of its contents, and that it had been the custom of plaintiff and other traveling men for years to place their trunks in this sample room. The last time it was placed there it remained some sixty days; the plaintiff Abercrombie being in and out of the hotel visiting his customers in the surrounding country. On December 12th he saw and opened the trunk in the sample room. From that time until December 14th he was registered at the hotel, but was away for several meals. On December 14th he looked for his trunk and found it gone. When he visited the sample room on December 12th he found the room unlocked and left it so. Proof was that the custom of the hotel was to leave this room unlocked, except when it was being used by some particular salesman, in which case the key was delivered to the salesman during his occupancy of the sample room. To this evidence the trial court sustained a demurrer, and the correctness of his ruling is before us for review.
¶3 The liability of an innkeeper under the common law is fully determined in the decision of Williams v. Norvell-Shapleigh Hardware Co., 29 Okla. 331, 116 P. 786, 35 L. R. A. (N. S.) 350, Ann. Cas. 1913A, 448, a case almost identical upon the facts. It was there said:
"Where property is brought to a hotel for the purpose of sale or show, such as the goods of commercial travelers, the law does not hold an innkeeper to his strict liability, but only, to the exercise of ordinary care and answerable for negligence."
¶4 That case, however, arose in the Indian Territory, and liability was governed by the rules of the common law only. Our statute (sec. 1113, Rev. Laws 1910) provides in part:
"An innkeeper or keeper of a boarding house is liable for all losses of, or injuries to, personal property placed by his guests or boarders under his care, unless occasioned by an irresistible superhuman cause, by a public enemy, by the negligence of the owner, or by the act of some one whom he brought into the inn or boarding house."
¶5 As was said in Huckins Hotel Co. v. Hooper, 44 Okla. 307, 144 P. 177:
"This statute practically makes the innkeeper an insurer of the property of his guest placed under his care," unless excused by the terms of this or the other sections of the statute relating to keeping a safe, etc.
¶6 The statute extends the liability to all "personal property," thus doing away with the distinction drawn at common law between goods for personal use and goods carried as samples or for sale.
¶7 The only question remaining, then, is whether the plaintiff's proof showed that his trunk was placed under the care of the inn keeper or the contributory negligence of the plaintiff was under our Constitution a question for the jury. We may eliminate any question as to whether a delivery to a baggageman hired to solicit for the hotel was a delivery to the innkeeper, as there is no definite proof that the trunk was upon the occasion of its being last placed in the hotel delivered to the particular baggageman shown to have been so employed or to any of his agents. It then remains to determine whether placing the trunk in the sample room under the circumstances indicated above amounts to placing under the innkeeper's care. We regard the expression in the statute "placed under his care" as not intended to modify the rules of the common law in regard to the time at which, and the circumstances under which, the liability of the innkeeper attaches to the goods of his guest. We think section 1113 must be construed as extending rather than restricting the common-law doctrine. The liability of the innkeeper is extended to all personal property of the guest, whereas at common law it did not extend to goods carried for purposes of sale, nor, as held by many courts, to large sums of money or articles of great value not necessary for the traveler's convenience and comfort. So, too, the liability of an inn keeper is extended to the property of regular boarders, and a boarding house keeper is brought under the same rules as an innkeeper. Where, therefore, every other provision of the section amplifies and extends rather than restricts the common law, we feel justified in inferring that the intention of the legislature in the particular clause in question was likewise not restrictive. On the other hand, sec. 1114 clearly limits the harsh liability imposed by the preceding section. It provides for exemption from liability for articles of great value and small compass not required for present use, if a safe be provided, notice given, and the guest fail to deposit such articles especially with the landlord, but this section also, by strong implication at least, recognizes the existence of liability unless...
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