Belden v. Jones
Belden v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit brought by plaintiff against two one of the defendants being the proprietor of t 'T^Hotel Astor, in New Orleans, and the other defendant being the defendants, one of the defendants being the proprietor of the clerk of this hotel. The Court below rendered Judgment for defendant,-dismissing plaintiff’s petition, and from the facts found in the record after oareful reading of the testimony, we are of the opinion that the trial judge was correot in dismissing this- suit.
It is not neoessary to discuss the evidence in this oase exhaustively. It is sufficient to note that the Hotel Astor, like other well-conducted hotels, operated under an important rule, to the effect that rooms oooupied by men on the' one hand, or women on the other hand, could not be visited by those of the opposite sex.
On January 4, 1921, the plaintiff-was engaged in a vaudeville act at the Orpheum Theatre, in New Orleans, during the week beginning January 3, 1921. In this vaudeville act, two young ladies were acting with the plaintiff. All claim to have known each other for several years, and were.good friends. The young ladies were stopping at the Astor Hotel in Eoyal St. When they applied for a room in this Hotel, the proprietor, .Jones, informed them of the rule above referred to, and cautioned them against its violation. On January 4, 1921, plaintiff called at the Astor Hotel, where the young ladies were stopping, at about the hour of six o'olook p. m., for the purpose of taking them to dinner at the Elks' Club in this city. He applied at the clerk's de3k, to Mr. Eichardson, asking- if the young ladies were in. The clerk requested him to.be seated in the lobby, or first floor of the Hotel, and advised the young ladies that plaintiff awaited them down stairs. They requested the clerk to inform plaintiff that they would be down in a short while. It appears, however, that in a few monents one of the young ladies, caned from the fifth floor, where their room was located, down the stairwiy to the
It appears that upon refusal of the plaintiff to leave the room, Richardson undertook with physical effort to eject him from the room, and an.altercation arose between them, in which the plaintiff claims to have been struck by the clerk, Richardson. The elevator boy, who conducted the plaintiff to the ladies' room and who was called upon by Richardson to assist in ejecting the plaintiff from the room, clearly states that he heard the clerk give instructions to the parties answering the phone in the ladies’ room, directing that the plaintiff should return to the lower floor, and that this demand was made two or three times, that he took Richardson finally to the room, and that he heard him knock 01. the door, and enter, and afterwards heard the altercation between plaintiff and the clerk. The proprietor of the Hotel is not eontiadioted in any way concerning the notice of the rule which.was given to the occupants of the room, as well as to the plaintiff by the ilerk, and it is plain
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.