196 S.W.2d 364 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1946
Affirming in part, reversing in part.
This is an action in tort for loss of baggage, including valuable papers, by Norton C. Lyon against the appellant, a corporation, operating the Tyler Hotel in Louisville. The circuit court held unconstitutional the several provisions of our statutes limiting the liability of hotel keepers for injury to or loss of baggage of guests, and submitted the case to the jury under instructions which permitted recovery of the entire value claimed. The verdict was for that sum, $707.20, and the appeal is from the consistent judgment.
The appellee, a regular patron of the Tyler Hotel for many years, registered on the afternoon of December 14, 1943, and was assigned to Room No. 434, with the advice that if a more desirable one of the type he usually occupied should become available he would be given it. This was satisfactory to him. Considering such a room to have become available under circumstances to be related, it was assigned to him and his baggage transferred during his absence. When Lyon returned to the hotel that night he was told of the change and given a key to that room, No. 506. He found the door open and his baggage missing. The room had been occupied for two days by a man and woman who had registered under the name of Boscoe and wife. They were unknown to the hotel management, but "they looked all right." It was developed after the loss of Mr. Lyon's baggage was reported that Boscoe was well-known to the police records. It is maintained by the appellee that the appellant, without his authority and negligently, had transferred his baggage to a room occupied by another, or with the key outstanding, and to which a professional thief had access. The appellant claims that *719 it proved it acted according to the usual practice and with the care exercised by "prudent and skillful persons in the management and operation of hotels under the same or similar circumstances." It argues that the court should have so held as a matter of law and directed a verdict accordingly. The instructions stated the hotel's duty to have been to exercise the highest degree of care, which was defined as "the utmost care and skill exercised by prudent and skillful persons in the management and operation of hotels under the same or similar circumstances as those of which you have heard evidence in this case." See 43 C.J.S., Innkeepers, sec. 15.
What occurred was that on December 12th the Boscoes came to the hotel without substantial baggage and paid for one day's lodging in room 506. On the 13th they paid for another day and occupied the room. Under the rules of the hotel, which were displayed in the room, a guest's right of occupancy ceased at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. That was the "checking out" hour. In such a case if the guest had not made known his desire to stay longer, the room was inspected and if there was no indication of continued occupancy, it was deemed to have been vacated. In this instance the Boscoes had not turned in the key to the room nor been heard from, and after an inspection of the room it was considered vacant. Lyon's baggage was transferred to this room about two hours later and the door locked by a hotel employee with a skeleton or extra key.
Carrying away hotel keys is a widespread habit. It was established that the Tyler Hotel, which has 227 guest rooms, has an average of 50 keys a month carried away and only about one-third are returned. It was shown that other hotels in Louisville have the same experience proportionate to their size. It was also established that all the hotel managements follow the same practice in treating a room to be vacant at a certain hour in the late afternoon under similar circumstances. None of them regard the failure of a guest to turn in his key as indicating his retention of the room. Otherwise, it is said, there would be a substantial number of rooms left vacant at all times. It was not possible during the period covered by this case to have procured new locks for the doors of the rooms and, in fact, it is never practicable.
The appellee alleged and testified that he had certain *720 papers in his handbag which were of the reasonable value of $550. They consisted of data and memoranda which he had gathered at considerable expense for the purpose of embarking upon a new business as soon as the war ended. His bag and personal effects were worth $177.20.
Chapter 306 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes classifies the property of guests with respect to a hotel proprietor's liability. KRS
KRS
"(a) The proprietor of a hotel shall not be liable in excess of one hundred dollars for the loss or damage to personal property brought into the hotel by guests, unless the loss or damage is occasioned by the negligence of the proprietor. * * *
"(c) In no event shall the liability provided for in this subsection exceed two hundred dollars, unless the proprietor has contracted in writing with the guest to assume a greater liability."
The appellee argues that these and other like provisions of the statute violate Section 54 of the Constitution of Kentucky, which is as follows:
"The General Assembly shall have no power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to person or property." *721
This restriction relates to liability of a wrongdoer and applies to actions in tort and not to a contract liability. Fidelity Deposit Co. v. Commonwealth,
The appellant argues that these statutes do not so offend and that the enactment is a traditional and legitimate exercise of legislative power; that they constitute statutory relief from the extreme rigor of the ancient and archaic common law liability of innkeepers, the reasons for which severity no longer exist; and that these statutory provisions become a part of a contract under which a guest acquires the right to the accommodations and protection of a hotel, so the constitutional restriction does not forbid such relief with respect to contractual liability.
We may first point out the clear distinction between this case and that of Kentucky Hotel v. Cinotti,
For the purpose of the decision, we shall concede without deciding that the documents are "valuable papers" *722 within the contemplation of the statute. As stated, the hotel had complied with the provisions of the statute and the appellee had not. He is barred from recovery for their loss if this part of the statute is constitutional. And we think it is. The particular provision of the statute we are now considering is not a limitation on the amount of liability as contemplated by Section 54 of the Constitution. It declares that a guest who neglects or fails to cooperate with the hotel proprietor in safeguarding his property may not impose liability upon him.
The restriction upon the right of recovery or the establishment of a complete defense — whichever the statute may be regarded — is not a radical departure from the rigorous rule of the common law which made an innkeeper liable as insurer of the safety of baggage of a guest, for that rule denied recovery if the loss was the fault or through the negligence of the guest himself. Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. v. Altamont Springs Hotel Company,
Statutes of this kind have been quite generally enacted and treated as valid, for all the cases seem to relate to their application and interpretation. 28 Am. Jur., Innkeepers, Sec. 74; 43 C.J.S., Innkeepers, secs. 14, 17; Rockhill v. Congress Hotel Company,
Under this conclusion, the trial court should have ruled as a matter of law that there could be no recovery for the value of the documents which the plaintiff regarded throughout as "valuable papers" within the purview of this statute. In reaching this conclusion we have not overlooked the argument of the appellee that there was an agreement or contract implied in law to care for *724
all his baggage and that these provisions of the statute, whether good or bad, became an integral part of the contract. Such was the decision in Kentucky Hotel v. Cinotti, supra,
We do not reach the question of the constitutionality of KRS
We consider the merits of the point that a peremptory instruction should have been given for the appellant upon the ground that it was not negligent as a matter of law. The loss of the baggage of the guest while in the possession of the hotel having been established, the burden shifted to the defendant to go forward and produce evidence to show that the loss did not result from a cause for which it was liable. Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. v. Altamont Springs Hotel Company, supra,
Since the judgment is distinctly severable and the decision with respect to both items is likewise separate, we affirm so much of the judgment as embraces the claim *725 for the loss of the plaintiff's bag and baggage, namely, $177.20, and reverse the other part embracing the value of the papers.
Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part.