Watt v. Kilbury

Citations

• 53 Wash. 446
• 102 P. 403
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1342

Syllabus

<p>Innkeepers — Loss oe Property — Burden of Proof. Upon proof of the loss of personal property from the room of a guest at .a hotel, the burden of proof is upon the innkeeper to show facts exonerating him from liability.</p> <p>Same — Loss by Guest — Evidence—Sufficiency. The evidence was sufficient to fix upon an innkeeper, as the insurer of the property of his guest at common law, liability for loss of a lady’s hand bag containing a gold watch and $460 in money, which the guest left upon her bed while absent from the room for a few minutes, notwithstanding a conflicting statement made by the guest, an old lady in ill health, while greatly agitated over the loss.</p> <p>Compromise and Settlement — Innkeeper’s Liability — Loss by Guest. Where guests suffered a loss of personal property left in their room, a note given in payment for a balance due upon room rent in order to release their baggage, is not a settlement of the claim for the loss of property.</p> <p>Innkeepers — Loss by Guests — Exemption by Notice — Statutes— Compliance. A hotel keeper is not exempted from liability for the loss of property of guests under Bal. Code, § 5977, where he failed to keep an iron safe or vault in good order for the custody of valuables, and failed to post a copy of the statute in the sleeping rooms, as required by the act; as the act must be exactly complied with to relieve from liability.</p>