GUEST HOUSE LOSS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19373, 23 December 1932, Page 4

GUEST HOUSE LOSS

LIABILITY OP PROPRIETOR. The loss of a diamond ring led to an action in the King's Bench Division, against the proprietress of a London guest house. Plaintiff, Mrs Vera Caldeeutt, Cumberland House, Clifton Gardens, W., the wife of a solicitor, alleged negligence by defendant, and. was awarded £SO with costs. Mrs Caldeeutt complained that she could not lock' the door of her room from the outside, and Mr Justice Swift said that to provide a room the door of which could not be locked properly was not reasonable care. Defendant was Mrs Adeline Elsie Piesse, proprietress of a guest house in Clifton Gardens, Maida Vale, W. Mr Eddy, for Mrs Caldeeutt, said that she went to stay at the house in August last year. On December 14 she wanted to wash some -silk stockings in her room, and before doing so took off her diamond “crossover” ring and placed it in a little box on the dressing table. Having finished her task she went downstairs to dinner. She was unable to lock her room door from the outside, and had complained about it several times to the manageress, who promised to put the lock right. Next morning Mrs Caldeeutt found that the ring had disappeared. On the previous evening a man, who had been staying at tire house under an assumed name, had left. Defendant denied negligence, and, alternatively, pleaded contributory negligence by Mrs Caldeeutt. Mrs Piesse also pleaded that she was not an innkeeper, but that if she was held to be one she was protected by the Innkeepers' Act. Mr Gates, for Mrs Piesse, stud that this was not an ordinary hotel. Guests stayed there by special arrangement, mostly for periods of not less than a week. No meals were served to nonresidents. Answering Mr Justice Swift, Mr Eddy said he thought that in the case of a paying guest in a private family the head of the t house would be liable for any negligence with respect to the guest’s property. Later the judge remarked to counsel: If you came and stayed with me and someone broke in should I be responsible for any loss you suffered? Mr Eddy: Yes, I think so. Mr Justice Swift: Then you shall not come and stay with me. (Laughter.) "It seems a dreadful prospect,” continued his lordship, “that when people come to stay for the week-end one has to go round the house and see that all the doors of the guest rooms can be locked on the outside.” For the defence, Mrs Ann Oakley, the manageress of the house, denied that the lock of the plaintiff’s door was not in order. Mr Justice Swift, giving judgment, referred to the man who stayed at Mrs Piesse’s house under an assumed name and left without taking any luggage. It was not surprising, his lordship said, both parties to that action thought that the ring was taken by the man. It had been suggested that Mr Piesse’s house was an inn or an hotel. His lordship did not think she was an innkeeper, but merely the keeper of a guest house. At the same time .she had a duty to protect the property of her guests and to exercise ordinary «we.