Yall v. Snow

Citation201 Mo. 511,100 S.W. 1
PartiesYALL v. SNOW et al.
Decision Date22 December 1906
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; John A. Blevins, Judge.

Action by Fannie Yall against Robert B. Snow and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Ernest E. Wood, for appellant. Collins & Chappell, for respondents.

GANTT, J.

This action was commenced in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, on the 7th day of November, 1903. It is brought by the plaintiff as the widow of Morris Yall, deceased, for damages accruing to her from the death of her husband by the burning of a certain three-story brick building in the city of St. Louis, located on the southwest corner of Olive and Beaumont streets, and numbered 2700 and 2702 Olive street.

The petition alleges, in substance, that Robert B. Snow, the defendant, was at all the times herein mentioned, and is at present, the owner of the above-described property, commonly called the "Empire Hotel." That on the 25th day of July, 1899, the defendant and others, owners thereof, leased said property, as a hotel, to William E. and Katharine Gillham for a term of 10 years, commencing on the 1st day of September, 1899, and to be fully completed and ended on the 21st day of August, 1909; the said lessees and all claiming under them, by virtue of the provisions of this lease, yielding and paying a total rent therefor to the said lessors or their legal representatives of $17,550, in monthly installments of $100 payable on the first day of each month of every year during the said term. And further stipulations of the lease are as follows: "That the said lessee will not suffer or commit any deterioration of the said premies, nor suffer any nuisance in, upon, or adjacent thereto; nor will they assign this lease, or underlet the whole or any part of the premises embraced therein, nor will they make any change or alteration in the building, nor permit them to be used or occupied in any manner other than herein specified, without the assent thereto of the said lessors, their heirs or assigns, in writing be first obtained. That the said lessee will quit and deliver up the possession of the said premises to the said lessors, their heirs or assigns, peaceably and quietly, when this lease shall terminate by the limitation of its terms, or by forfeiture, in as good order and condition in every respect as the same are now or may hereafter be made by repairs, save only the wear thereof from reasonable and careful use and casualties from fire, not resulting from the design or negligence of the said lessees, their family, agents or servants. All the repairs deemed necessary by the lessees to be made at the expense of the lessees, with the consent of the lessors and not otherwise. The said lessors, their heirs or assigns, shall at all reasonable times and hours have the right to enter upon and inspect the state and condition of said premises." The petition then proceeds to allege that, at all times mentioned herein, the defendant and others collected rent from said property from the said lessees; that the said property is three stories in height, and at all times mentioned herein the said property was conducted as a hotel or lodging house by the said Gillhams; that at all times mentioned herein said defendant knew that said property was being conducted as a hotel or lodging house by the said lessees; that at all the times mentioned herein it was the duty of the said defendant to provide the said hotel or lodging house with fire escapes, iron balconies, and exterior iron stairs, as required by law. Plaintiff alleges that the said defendant, his duty as above alleged neglecting, failed to provide fire escapes, as required by law or at all, and further failed to provide iron balconies, as required by law or at all, and failed to provide exterior iron stairs in case of fire, as required by law or at all.

And plaintiff further alleges that on the 9th day of February, 1902, while the said hotel was being operated, with the knowledge of said defendant, on account of the negligence of the said defendant, there was connected with said hotel no fire escapes, no iron balconies, and no exterior iron stairs, as required by law or at all. That on the 9th day of February, 1902, Morris Yall, the husband of this plaintiff, was a lodger of said Gillhams in the said hotel or lodging house. That the said Morris Yall occupied a room above the second story of the said hotel or lodging house, which said room so occupied had an outside window. That at about 3 o'clock a. m. on the 9th day of February, 1902, the said Morris Yall was aroused from his sleep on account of fire in the said building, and, being aroused, he tried to escape from the building, but was unable to do so owing to the fact of there being no fire escapes, no iron balconies, and no exterior iron stairs in connection with said hotel. That the said Morris Yall, being unable to escape from the said burning building on account of there being connected therewith no fire escapes or iron balconies, came to his death within the burning building on account of being burned by fire. That if there had been fire escapes, as required by law, connected with the said hotel, the said Morris Yall would have escaped thereby to the ground without injury to himself. That if there had been iron balconies connected with said hotel, as required by law, the said Morris Yall could have stood thereon and would have been rescued by firemen. That the death of said Morris Yall was due to the fact of there being no fire escapes, no iron balconies, and no exterior iron stairs connected with the said hotel or lodging house. Plaintiff alleged that the death of the said Morris Yall was due to the neglect of the said defendant in not performing his duty as above alleged, and in not providing their said hotel or lodging house with fire escapes, iron balconies, and exterior stairways. That plaintiff is the widow of the said Morris Yall, That the said Morris Yall was the only support of this plaintiff and her infant child, and that, by the death of said Morris Yall, plaintiff has been damaged by the said defendants in the sum of $5,000. Wherefore she prays judgment against the defendant Robert E. Snow for $5,000.

To this petition the defendant filed the following demurrer: "Now, at this day comes the defendant in the above-entitled cause, and demurs to plaintiff's second amended petition, and for ground of this demurrer, defendant states: First. That said petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, in this, that while it appears from the allegations of said petition that the defendant, with others, were the owners of the real estate therein described and the buildings thereon erected, it does not appear that the defendant and his co-owners were conducting a hotel or lodging house therein, and that there was therefore no duty resting upon the defendant under the law to provide or equip the said building with fire escapes, iron balconies, or exterior iron stairs. Second. That said petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, in this, that, while in said petition it is alleged that said defendant and others were the owners of real estate therein described and of the buildings thereon erected, it not alleged that said buildings were built to be occupied or used as a hotel, or as a lodging house, and that there was therefore no duty resting upon the defendant to provide or equip the said buildings with fire escapes, iron balconies, or exterior iron stairs. Third. That said petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, in this, that it appears affirmatively from said petition that, while said defendant and his co-owners own the real estate described therein and the buildings thereon erected, it also appears that said buildings were erected and were leased by said defendant and his co-owners for a term of ten years prior to the passage of any law requiring any person to erect fire escapes thereon, and that the said buildings were therefore, at the time of the passage of any law requiring the erection of fire escapes, in the...

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36 cases
  • Plaza Amusement Co. v. Rothenberg
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • December 15, 1930
    ... ... right to recover the rent ... 16 R ... C. L., page 571 ... Amis, ... Dunn & Snow and Bozeman & Cameron, of Meridian, for ... appellees ... In this ... state the law is, that in the absence of an express covenant ... obligation against both the owner and lessee to construct ... fire escapes. Johnson v. Snow, 201 Mo. 450, 100 S.W ... 5; [159 Miss. 852] Yall v. Snow, 201 Mo. 511, 100 ... S.W. 1, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.) 177, 119 Am. St. Rep. 781 [9 Ann ... Cas. 1161]; Coutant v. Snow, 201 Mo. 527, 100 ... ...
  • State v. Standard Oil Co.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • December 23, 1908
    ...of the Legislature, although heavy damages were prescribed and penalties imposed for their violation. Yall v. Snow, 201 Mo. 511, 100 S. W. 1, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.) 177, 119 Am. St. Rep. 781, and cases cited; Johnson v. Snow, 201 Mo. 450, 100 S. W. And as said by Graves, J., in the Delmar Jock......
  • Lahtinen v. Continental Bldg. Co.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • October 2, 1936
    ...us. Here we are dealing with the landlord-owner's liability to the invitees of the tenant, an entirely different matter. The case of Yall v. Snow, supra, was an action by a widow for death of her husband, Morris Yall, a guest at a hotel. The hotel burned. Yall was unable to escape because t......
  • The State ex inf. Hadley v. Standard Oil Co.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • March 9, 1909
    ... ... the Legislature, although heavy damages were prescribed and ... penalties imposed for their violation. [ Yall v ... Snow, 201 Mo. 511, 100 S.W. 1, and cases cited; ... Johnson v. Snow, 201 Mo. 450, 100 S.W. 5.] ...          And as ... said by ... ...
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