Copley v. Balle

Citation9 Kan.App. 465,60 P. 656
Decision Date17 March 1900
Docket Number391.[*]
PartiesJOSIAH COPLEY v. EDUARD BALLE
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas

Decided March, 1900.

Error from Geary district court; O. L. MOORE, judge.

Judgement of district court affirmed.

SYLLABUS

NEGLIGENCE -- Liability of Landowner -- Dangerous Excavation. The owner of property having a dangerous excavation thereon known to him who leases it to another to be run as a hotel and restaurant, without making reasonable provision for the protection of its patrons from falling in said excavation, is liable for the damage resulting therefrom.

J. R McClure, for plaintiff in error.

Humphrey & Humphrey, for defendant in error.

OPINION

WELLS, J.:

This action was brought in the district court by the defendant in error to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by him by falling into an excavation on the premises owned by the plaintiff in error, but occupied at the time of the accident by a tenant as a hotel and restaurant. The action was tried to a jury, which made certain findings of fact and returned a general verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $ 1000.

The main and, we think, the only vital question in this case is as to the liability of the owner of real property, leased to another for the purpose of being used as a hotel and restaurant, for injuries sustained by one who is lawfully thereon, by reason of a dangerous excavation left by the owner at the time of making the lease. There is no question involving the duties and liabilities of an innkeeper to his guest in this case. The plaintiff was lawfully upon the premises in obedience to a general invitation extended to the traveling public, as contemplated in the lease. The question of contributory negligence was decided by the jury adversely to the plaintiff in error, and, although in our judgment they could very properly have found the other way, we are bound by the findings.

Upon the question above stated, it seems to us that the law is clearly epitomized in the extract copied in the plaintiff in error's reply brief from the opinion in Edwards v. N Y. & H. R. Co., 98 N.Y. 245, as follows: "The responsibility of the landlord is the same in all cases. If guilty of negligence or other delictum, which leads directly to the accident and wrong complained of, he is liable; if not so guilty, no liability attaches to him." The evidence in this case warranted the jury in finding that the plaintiff...

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11 cases
  • Trimble v. Spears
    • United States
    • Kansas Supreme Court
    • January 25, 1958
    ...134 Kan. 574, 7 P.2d 513; Bates v. Stearns, 141 Kan. 814, 44 P.2d 278; Campbell v. Weathers, 153 Kan. 316, 111 P.2d 72; Copley v. Balle, 9 Kan.App. 465, 60 P. 656; Meecke v. Morguies, 128 Kan. 423, 278 P. 45; McMillen v. Summunduwot Lodge, 143 Kan. 502, 54 P.2d 985; Jones v. Swatszel, 145 K......
  • Clark v. Chase Hotel Co.
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • September 7, 1934
    ...R.C.L., pp. 1069-70; 36 Corpus Juris, pp. 225-226; Southwestern Gas, etc., Co. v. Thomas, 249 Fed. 325, 161 C.C.A. 333; Copley v. Balle, 9 Kan. App. 465, 60 Pac. 656; Albert v. State, 66 Md. 325, 7 Atl. 697, 59 Am. Rep. 159; Eckman v. Atlantic Lodge No. 276, B.P.O.E., 68 N.J.L. 10, 52 Atl. ......
  • Olin v. Honstead
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • April 29, 1939
    ...55 Colo. 540, 136 P. 1039, L. R. A. 1915B, 364; Stenberg v. Willcox, 96 Tenn. 163, 33 S.W. 917, 34 L. R. A. 615; Copley v. Balle, 9 Kan. App. 465, 60 P. 656; Edwards v. New York & Harlem R. R. Co., 98 N.Y. 50 Am. Rep. 659; Albert v. State, 66 Md. 325, 7 A. 697, Am. Rep. 159.) When a landlor......
  • Borders v. Roseberry, 47579
    • United States
    • Kansas Supreme Court
    • March 1, 1975
    ...or otherwise to protect such persons against it.' This exception has been recognized in Kansas in the following cases: Copley v. Balle, 9 Kan.App. 465, 60 P. 656 (hotelrestaurant); Turner v. Kent, 134 Kan. 574, 7 P.2d 513 (grovery store); Zinn v. Hill Lumber & Investment Co., 176 Kan. 669, ......
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