Hodo v. Benecke
Hodo v. Benecke
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was an action begun before a justice of the peace. Plaintiff alleges that he is a boarding-house keeper in the Twenty-fourth Ward of the city of St. Louis, and that defendant Benecke owes him a balance of $69 on account of six months’ board to July 1, 1878, at $18 a month ; and that defendant, the Missouri Zinc Company, a corporation, owes Benecke $38.40 for work and labor performed by Benecke for it. Plaintiff asks judgment against Benecke, and that the same be declared a lien upon the wages due him by the Zinc Company, and that these wages be appropriated to the payment of the indebtedness.
On trial anew in the circuit court, the facts stated in the petition of plaintiff were admitted ; and it was agreed that the sum due Benecke for wages was for the last two weeks before the suit was brought. Judgment was for defendants.
The act of 1872 (Rev. Stats., sect. 3198), gives to boarding-house keepers a lien upon the baggage and valuables of their guests and boarders, brought into the hotel by the.
Appellant insists that plaintiff was entitled to a judgment against the principal debtor Benocke, on the admitted facts. The statute as to liens for keeping horses provides that, if plaintiff establishes his indebtedness on the account sued on, but fails to establish his lien, judgment shall be for plaintiff for such indebtedness, but the costs of suit, or any part thereof, may be taxed against him. Notwithstanding the general language of section 3198, it is obvious when the provisions of this statute (sect. 3197) are considered,, that they cannot be applied to a case where the attempt is to affix a lien upon wages ; they are appropriate only to the case where the lien is to be established against baggage or valuables of the guest. But plaintiff having brought his action under sections 3198 and 3199, in a vain attempt to enforce a boarding-house keeper’s lien against
The judgment is reversed ; and judgment will be entered here in accordance with what has just been said.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.