Williams v. Arlington Hotel Co.

• Decision Date: 06 October 1926
• Docket Number: No. 6712.,6712.
• Citation: 15 F.2d 412
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. ARLINGTON HOTEL CO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

15 F.2d 412 (1926)

WILLIAMS v. ARLINGTON HOTEL CO.

No. 6712.

District Court, E. D. Arkansas. W. D.

October 6, 1926.

Seth M. Walker and William Waller, both of Nashville, Tenn., and Chas. S. Harley, of Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiff.

Martin, Wootton & Martin, of Hot Springs, Ark., for defendant.

TRIEBER, District Judge.

The material allegations of the complaint, so far as necessary for the determination of the demurrer, briefly stated, are: On April 5, 1923, the plaintiff was a transient guest at the hotel of the defendant, operated by it as a public hotel in the city of Hot Springs, Ark., located on an acre of ground, in the extreme northwestern corner of a reservation of the government, which had been reserved by section 4 of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1877, 19 Stat. 378; that on the southwestern portion of this reservation the United States had erected and maintained ever since its erection, and still does maintain a hospital for the army and navy, and uses the rest of the land of the Reservation, which is set out in the Act of cession of the state, copied in the complaint, except the western strip of the entire reservation, which included the premises occupied by the hotel of defendant under lease from the government, for a national park. The lease was made by the Secretary of the Interior under authority of an Act of Congress of December 16, 1878, 20 Stat. 258, corrected by the Act of April 12, 1904, 33 Stat. 173 (section 5251, U. S. Comp. St. 1916), and renewed under the Act of August 24, 1912, 37 Stat. 459; that the entire reservation was a part of the public domain acquired by the United States by the Louisiana Purchase, from France in 1803.

It is further alleged that, while the plaintiff was a guest at the hotel, it was, on April 5, 1925, totally destroyed by fire and all of plaintiff's wearing apparel, money, and jewelry, at the time in the rooms assigned to and occupied by her as such a guest, were destroyed and lost. The value of the lost property is alleged to be $6,326, for which sum judgment is prayed. Diversity of citizenship is alleged, although as the issue of law involved, as set out in the complaint, also raises a federal question, which would confer jurisdiction of the cause on this court, regardless of the diverse citizenship of the parties. Great Northern Ry. v. Galbreath Cattle Co., 271 U. S. 99, 101, 46 Sup. Ct. 439, 70 L. Ed. 854.

The complaint does not allege that the fire was intentionally produced by the defendant or its servants, nor are there any allegations that the hotel or any part of it was operated by or for governmental purposes, or that the government had any connection whatever with its operation, use, or control, or that the hotel and its operation, in any manner, interfered with or embarrassed the operation or use of the part of the reservation used by the government, for the hospital, the park, or other governmental purposes. The act of the state ceding jurisdiction over the entire reservation, including the part occupied by defendant's hotel, was enacted on February 21, 1903, and is digested as section 4558, Crawford & Moses' Digest of Arkansas Statutes of 1921.

The act limits this cession "so long as the same shall remain the property of the United States," and contained the following proviso: "Provided, that this grant of jurisdiction shall not prevent the execution of any process of the state, civil or criminal, on any person who may be on such reservation or premises: Provided, further, that the right to tax all structures and other property in private ownership on the Hot Springs reservation accorded to the state by the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1901, is hereby reserved to the state of Arkansas."

It is proper for a full understanding of the issue herein involved to state that, on May 27, 1912, the Supreme Court of the state in Pettit v. Thomas, 103 Ark. 593, 148 S. W. 501, held that under the common law (which was at that time in force in the state), a hotel or innkeeper was, "like a common carrier, an insurer of the property of his guests committed to his care, and liable for any loss thereof, not arising from the act of God, the public enemy, or the neglect or fraud of the owner of the property."

Although the authorities on this question are conflicting, it will be assumed, without deciding that, in the absence of a later statute of the state, the rule there established would govern this case. At the first session of the General Assembly, after this decision, it enacted a law, approved March 29, 1913, Session Acts 1913, p. 934 (sections 5564 to 5567, inclusive, Crawford & Moses' Digest of Arkansas Statutes of 1921), entitled "the limited liability and protection from fraud law." Notwithstanding this title the act is confined exclusively to the regulation and liabilities of hotels and innkeepers and their guests.

Section 2b of the act (section 5567, Crawford & Moses' Digest) is as follows: "The liability of the keeper of any inn or hotel, whether individual, partnership, or corporation, for loss of, or injury to, personal property placed by his guests under his care, other than that described in the preceding sections, shall be that of a depository for hire, except that in case such loss or injury is caused by fire not intentionally produced by the innkeeper or his servants, such innkeeper shall not be liable: Provided, however, that in no case shall such liability exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars for each trunk and its contents, fifty dollars for each valise and its contents, and ten dollars for each box, bundle, or package and contents, so placed under his care, and all other miscellaneous effects including wearing apparel and personal belongings, fifty dollars, unless he shall have consented in writing with such guests to assume a greater liability."

It is conceded by counsel for plaintiff that, if this act applies, the defendant is not liable in this action, and the demurrer to the complaint must be sustained. The contention of counsel for plaintiff is that, as the act was enacted long after the state had ceded exclusive jurisdiction over the entire reservation, on a part of which the hotel was situated, the state was thereafter without jurisdiction or power to enact any laws which would apply to it, and therefore the rule established in Pettit v. Thomas, supra, governs. As alleged the land was not acquired by the United States by purchase with the consent of the Legislature of the state, but was part of the public domain acquired by the Louisiana Purchase.

The Act of Congress of March 3, 1877, 19 Stat. 377, provides for the disposition of a large part of the lands, which had been adjudged in the Hot Springs Cases, 92 U. S. 698, 23 L. Ed. 690, to be the property of the United States, but reserved certain portions thereof as a reservation, being the part described in the act of the state coding exclusive jurisdiction over it to the United States. On one acre of this reservation the defendant operated the hotel. The history of the title of the United States to these lands is fully set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court in the Hot Springs Cases, supra, and need not be restated. Reference to that opinion only is necessary.

The issues involved in this case require a construction of the second part of article 1, § 8, cl. 17, of the Constitution of the United States. That clause, after providing for exclusive jurisdiction by Congress of a district for a seat of the government, contains the following additional provision: "And to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock yards, and other needful buildings."

The leading authority on which counsel for both parties rely is Ft. Leavenworth R. R. Co. v. Lowe, 114 U. S. 525, 5 S. Ct. 995, 29 L. Ed. 264. Without restating the facts in that case, as they are fully set out in that opinion, it is sufficient to state that in many respects they are similar to those in the case at bar. Others arising in this case, and not involved nor passed on in the Ft. Leavenworth R. R. Case, will be stated and determined later in this opinion. The issue in that case, as stated in the opinion was: "The contention of the plaintiff is that the act of cession operated under the Constitution to vest in the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the reservation, and that the last saving clause referring to the act of cession by the state of Kansas being inconsistent with that result, is to be rejected." 114 U. S. 528, 5 S. Ct. 997 (29 L. Ed. 264).

The land involved in that case was a part of the public lands acquired by the United States by the Louisiana Purchase, as are the premises in the instant case, and the cession of jurisdiction by the state of Kansas to the United States was made long after the establishment of the fort on the land involved in that suit.

In deciding the case the court went further than was perhaps necessary for the determination of the above-quoted contention of the plaintiff. No doubt, due to the fact that the question before the court was of great importance, and that the second part of this constitutional provision (article 1, § 8, cl. 17) had not theretofore been construed by the Supreme Court, so far as it involved lands not acquired by purchase with the consent of the Legislature of the state, in which the lands were situated, and not for its use as the seat of government, the court evidently considered it proper to construe it in all its phases, so far as they could in any wise affect that part of the provision of the Constitution, or the issue involved warranted.

All these questions having been fully discussed, and by the court, in a carefully prepared opinion, determined, they cannot be treated as obiter. The well-settled law is: "Where there are two grounds, upon either of which the" appellate court may rest its...