Kleckner v. Hotel Strand
Kleckner v. Hotel Strand
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defendant, a corporation, conducted a hotel at Atlantic City, and in the same building operated a garage. On a Saturday, the plaintiff, an intending guest of the hotel, drove into the garage. He was there met by a porter, who took his traveling bag into the hotel office. Upon inquiring for accommodations he was informed that there were none. The plaintiff then stated in substance that he would walk down to the Shelburne Hotel, and if the defendant could secure accommodations for him in its hotel the clerk should let him know, that he would bé found at the Hotel Shelburne. Not wishing to carry his grip around' with him, plaintiff said: “I will leave my bag here.” The clerk said: “Very well, we will check it.” Not hearing from the defendant at a late hour Saturday night,' plaintiff registered at the Shelburne Hotel. On Monday morning he went to the defendant’s office and after paying for the storage of his car, gasoline, etc., at the desk, he asked for his bag; it could not be found. After several unsuccessful efforts had been made to secure it, the plaintiff brought this suit for the value of the bag and its contents. A compulsory non-
Appellant urges that the relation of innkeeper and guest was established through the connection between the garage and the hotel; that both being under the same ownership, management, and the same roof, the defendant was liable as an innkeeperr. As we view the facts in this case it is not necessary to go that far. We feel there was sufficient evidence before the court from which the jury under proper instructions might find that there was a bailment for the mutual benefit and advantage Of both parties, as in the case of Woodruff v. Painter & Eldridge, 150 Pa. 91. The facts may not place it under one of the technical classes of bailments for' mutual benefit, but it constitutes one of those exceptional cases which may properly be termed a bailment for mutual benefit. Such bailments arise where there exists a possibility or chance of expected profit to accrue from the patronage of the intending guest. As in the case just cited, where a person purchasing a suit of clothes, placed his watch in a drawer, and it was stolen therefrom, the expected profit was the consideration. Or, where a wrap is laid on a counter in a place where ready made cloaks are sold, and is lost, the expected profit or chances of future business was a sufficient consideration to support a bailment for mutual benefit: Bunnell v. Stern, 122 N. Y. 539. As stated by the Supreme Court, in Woodruff v. Painter & Eldridge, supra, a bailment of this kind arises “in such cases only as it is a necessary incident of a business in which the bailee makes profit.” The defendant, in conducting a hotel, invited the public to become guests thereof. When this plaintiff applied for accommodations he placed himself in a position of becoming a guest. Had nothing beyond the refusal of accommodations taken place, no contractual relations could have arisen. When the plaintiff told the defendant that he would wait for word as to accommodations and the defendant accepted the plaintiff’s proposition by saying: “Very well, we
The assignment of error is sustained, the judgment is reversed, and a venire facias de novo is awarded.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Bailment — Innkeeper—Loss of baggage — Mutual benefit. Where a traveler goes to a hotel on a Saturday evening and is informed that he cannot he accommodated at the time, hut may be later; and to his request that his traveling bag should be looked after by the hotel, the clerk says “we will check it,” and the traveler not securing a room goes to another hotel, and his bag is lost while in the custody of the first hotel, he will be entitled to recover its value from such hotel, although he did not return for it until Monday morning. In such a case there is a (bailment for mutual benefit, the consideration to the hotel being the expected profit from the traveler who had offered himself as a guest. The liability of the hotel, under the circumstances, is not that of an insurer, but it is liable for ordinary care, and the burden upon it is to show that it was not guilty of negligence. In such a case the court could not, as a matter of law, declare that the plaintiff’s delay in asking for his bag was unreasonable. What was a reasonable time was a' question for the jury.