Ranus V. Boatmen's Bank

• Decision Date: 02 June 1919
• Docket Number: No. 19790.,19790.
• Citation: 214 S.W. 156,279 Mo. 332
• Parties: RANUS v. BOATMEN'S BANK.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

214 S.W. 156

279 Mo. 332

RANUS v. BOATMEN'S BANK.

No. 19790.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

June 2, 1919.

Rehearing Denied July 9, 1919.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; William M. Kinsey, Judge.

Action by Esther Lenore Ranus, by her next friend, E. L. Winterman, against the Boatmen's Bank. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Lehmann & Lehmann and Fauntleroy, Cullen & Hay, all of St. Louis, for appellant.

Leonard & Sibley, of St. Louis, for respondent.

BOND, J.

Esther Lenore Ranus, the infant child of Arthur T. Ranus, recovered a judgment of $10,000 against the Boatmen's Bank for alleged negligence which caused the death of her father.

On April 9, 1914, at 2 o'clock in the morning, the seven-story brick building at the corner of Washington avenue and Fourth street, in the city of St. Louis, was completely destroyed by fire. The building was occupied by the Missouri Athletic Club for club purposes with the exception of 135 feet on the Fourth street side and 50 feet on the Washington avenue front, which was reserved for and occupied by the Boatmen's Bank, the owner of the building.

On March 2, 1903, the bank leased to the Missouri Amusement & Club Supply Company the part of the building above mentioned, said lease to expire April 1, 1913. Later the bank executed another lease, dated June 30, 1910, effective April 1, 1913, and expiring 10 years later, to the Missouri Athletic Club; the original lessee (the Missouri Amusement & Supply Company) having gone out of business. The latter lease covered the same portion of the building as the former. Both leases provided for use of the building as a social and athletic club; that the lessee would keep it in good order and make, at its cost and expense, all repairs necessary (except as to roof, gutters, etc.); that the premises should not be used for any purpose considered more than ordinarily hazardous by the board of insurance underwriters, and that the lessee take over all machinery, steam heating and elevator plants, and furnish heat, etc., to the lessor during the life of the lease.

The building in question was not fireproof, as understood to-day, but was what is known as the slow-combustion type, and previous to its occupancy by the Missouri Athletic Club was used by the Shapleigh Hardware Company as a warehouse, with general offices on the first floor. The ceiling of the bank's quarters, however, which was virtually on a level with the ceiling of the second floor was composed of fireproof material, which successfully withstood the terrific heat, as the bank's quarters were found to be intact after the conflagration.

On the consummation of the lease, the club undertook to remodel the building to suit the purposes of a club. In the basement a swimming tank and Turkish baths were installed; the first floor was laid with tile, the walls decorated, and the space divided into lobby, office, etc.; the second floor was converted into a billiard room, a new wooden floor laid, and a drop ceiling put in; the third floor was converted into a dining room, with kitchens adjoining, and a portable wooden stage was provided for entertainments, equipped in the usual way; the fourth floor was made into bowling alleys; the fifth and sixth floors were partitioned into "sleeping dormitories or apartments" (96 in number); and the seventh floor was turned into a gymnasium.

The building was equipped with a spiral fire escape on the Washington avenue front, running to the seventh floor, which was in conformity with the city ordinances at the time it was built, and several years thereafter platforms were added, running around the corner of the building at the fifth and sixth floors; said platforms extending over the roof of the adjoining building. There was also an inclosed stairway at the north end of the building, intended for use in case of fire, and an outside fire escape on the Fourth street side of the building. Both of these were built at the time the alterations were made by the club, and the east side escape was planned and erected in conformity to city ordinances, and said plans were submitted to and approved by the building commissioner. The escape on the east side passed various windows in its descent to the ground. All the alterations to the building were made with the consent and by the authority of the defendant bank.

On the day before the fire Mr. Ranus was passing through St. Louis on his way to Kansas City, where he expected to enter into new business relations. He spent the day with a business associate, and after registering at the club and being assigned to room 36 on the fifth floor, his friend, who is probably the last person who saw him alive, left him there about 1 o'clock in the morning, just one hour before the fire. Four or five days thereafter his body was found buried in rubbish a little north of the central elevator shaft on the first floor. From the unburned portions of his trousers his watch and keys were taken.

In her petition plaintiff pleaded violation of sections 10666, 10667, and 10668 of the Revised Statutes of 1909, the pertinent parts of which are hereafter quoted, and further pleaded section 421 of the Revised Code of St. Louis, which provides for the kind and description of fire escapes and their number and location by the building commissioner of public buildings, and adds, to wit:

"Provided, however, that all buildings of nonfireproof construction, three or more stories in height, used for manufacturing or mercantile purposes, hotels, dormitories, schools,...