225 P. 41 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1924
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *31 This is an action by plaintiff for himself and as assignee of twenty-one claims, against the Bank of Tracy, for the value of the contents of safe-deposit boxes, kept in the safe-deposit vault of the Byron Branch of said bank, which were burglarized on January 26, 1920. The complaint alleges that the bank was guilty of negligence and want of ordinary care in the protection of the safe-deposit boxes and the preservation of the property contained therein. After trial by jury a verdict was had in plaintiff's favor on eighteen claims, amounting to $12,322.14; from the ensuing judgment for that amount defendant appeals.
The facts are undisputed. The town of Byron, Contra Costa County, has a population of about 250 and is the center of a peaceful farming community. Its entire business section comprises a single street on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad. There is but one two-story building in the place, and all the buildings, with the exception of the bank, are of wood. Until 1911 there was no bank nearer Byron than at Antioch on the northwest about fourteen miles away, and at Tracy on the south, about *32 fifteen miles away; in 1911 the Bank of Tracy instituted a branch at Byron and assigned to it $25,000 working capital. The bank building was of concrete with eighteen-inch walls and the vault was constructed of the same material of the same thickness, with iron doors, "fire-proof and thief resisting." The front door and windows were of the ordinary business type. The rear door and window were protected by iron gratings. The grating over the rear door is described as a "barred door." It was made of iron and was a "lattice work hung by two hinges on two steel pins which were anchored in the cement wall. It was fastened . . . with a padlock on the inside of the grating." There was also a heavy wooden door across which on the inside was an iron bar. On either side of the bank building are wooden structures, and in the rear is a high board fence. A vacant lot adjoining the bank premises gave access to the rear of the bank building. Trees near said fence obscured the back door through which entrance to the steel vault doors was effected. No burglar alarm, bell or other warning device was installed in the bank. There was no watchman for the same; the only peace officer in the community lived on the same street as the bank and within sixty-five feet of it. From the front of the bank the upper portion of the vault door could be seen by looking through the window, over the top of grill work surmounting frosted glass and wooden base. The whole partition was probably five feet high. Several trains passed on the main line during the night, and there was generally some switching there also. The street lighting system of the town was by popular subscription, and as funds were low the lights were used only occasionally. There was no telephone service out of the town after 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening. No one slept in the buildings on either side of the bank. Defendant had rented yearly on an average of one hundred safe-deposit boxes at an annual rental of $2 per box, the total income therefrom approximating $200 per annum. Defendant was accustomed to, and did, on the night of the robbery, use one of the safe-deposit boxes for some of its own coin and Liberty Loan bonds. The safe-deposit vault was burglarized by unknown persons by the use of the oxy-acetylene torch and flame. With one possible exception this was the first bank robbery accomplished by such means in the United *33 States, but following in the same year there were four other similar bank robberies in California. The oxy-acetylene flame will cut through solid steel at least twenty-six inches thick. The precautions taken by the defendant for the safety of its box renters and the contents of such safe-deposit boxes were similar and at least equal to those taken by all other banks in similar and even larger communities in California. Up to the time of the robbery no bank in any community in California with a population of less than 1,000 had a burglar alarm on its safe-deposit vault or kept a private watchman.
Defendant alleges as its first point for reversal that the evidence is insufficient to justify the verdict on any count.
[1] The relation between these parties was that of bailor and bailee. The defendant was a bailee for hire. It devolved upon defendant to use ordinary care in the safeguarding of plaintiff's property. (Cussen v. Southern California SavingsBank,
[5] Before proceeding with a consideration of the evidence we will advert to the charges made by plaintiff in his complaint against the defendant. It is alleged that the defendant was negligent and failed to use ordinary care in safeguarding the property. It was incumbent upon plaintiff to sustain the burden of proving these charges. As was said in Perera v. PanamaPacific International Exp. Co.,
Plaintiff cites a number of cases holding that one doing a safe-deposit business is a bailee for hire and is bound to use ordinary care, which is conceded. It is urged that the material facts in this case are in dispute and therefore the question of negligence was one for the jury. We have gleaned from the record and stated herein all of the facts. We accept the rule as stated in Runkle v. Southern Pacific Milling Co.,
[10] Counsel for plaintiff further insist that negligence is inferable from the fact that the safe-deposit boxes were not kept behind a stronger door of a vault maintained by defendant.Merchants Bank of Vandervoort v. Affholter,
While plaintiff has wholly failed to affirmatively show negligence, defendant has shown by undisputed evidence, that in maintaining its safe-deposit vaults it conformed to the practice and conduct of all other country banks in California situated in towns of like population and character. Briefly, this evidence shows, without conflict or contradiction, that the bank building was as good or better than the ordinary country bank building in California; that the interior arrangement of the bank was the ordinary and usual arrangement; that the bank vaults were protected by doors similar in all respects to those in other banking institutions in California in similar sized communities; that no bank in California, up to the time of the robbery, in a community of less than 1,000 inhabitants, had either a night watchman or a burglar alarm.
Believing, as we do, that the evidence wholly fails to sustain the verdict, we are of the opinion that the judgment must be reversed. The order of the trial court taxing costs, made after judgment, from which the defendant also appeals, naturally falls with the main case. We consider it unnecessary to consider other points raised by defendant.
Judgment reversed.
Short, J., pro tem., and Tyler, P. J., concurred.
A petition by respondent to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on April 28, 1924.
*38All the Justices concurred.