Court Opinion

ID: 9468016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:01:58.181537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:38.164995
License: Public Domain

*685MARCUS, Justice
(dissenting).
The certified questions raised the issue of whether the $100 limitation on liability of innkeepers provided for by art. 2971 is also applicable to officers and employees of innkeepers. In answering this question in the negative, the majority concluded that the limitation does not even apply to the innkeeper himself in the case of tort liability; thus, it did not specifically address the question of whether the limitation applies to officers and employees of the innkeeper. After reviewing the applicable articles of the Louisiana Civil Code and for reasons hereinafter stated, I conclude that La.Civ. Code art. 2971 limits the liability of an innkeeper to $100, even when the loss of a guest’s property is the result of the innkeeper’s negligence, so long as the innkeeper did not appropriate the property or enrich himself at the guest’s expense and that this limitation is likewise applicable to the officers and employees of an innkeeper.
The liability of innkeepers is covered in Louisiana Civil Code articles 2965-2971: Art. 2965. Necessary deposit with innkeeper
Art. 2965. An innkeeper is responsible as depositary for the effects brought by travelers who lodge at his house; the deposit of such effects is considered as a necessary deposit.
Art. 2966. Innkeeper’s responsibility for traveller’s effects
Art. 2966. An innkeeper is responsible for the effects brought by travelers, even though they were not delivered into his personal care, provided however, they were delivered to a servant or person in his employment.
Art. 2967. Innkeeper’s liability for effects damaged or stolen
Art. 2967. He is responsible if any of the effects be stolen or damaged, either by his servants or agents, or by strangers going and coming in the inn.
Art. 2968. Innkeeper’s safe for deposit of valuables
Art. 2968. Every landlord or keeper of a public inn or hotel, shall be required to provide with an iron chest or other safe deposit for valuable articles belonging to his guests or customers, and each landlord or hotel keeper shall keep posted upon his doors and other public places in his house of entertainment, written or printed notices to his guests and customers that they must leave their valuables with the landlord, his agent or clerk, for safe keeping, that he may make safe deposit of the same in the placed provided for that purpose.
Art. 2969. Loss of valuables not deposited in safe
Art. 2969. Every landlord, hotel or inn keeper who shall comply with the requirements of the preceding articles [article], shall not be liable for any money, jewelry, watches, plate, or other things made of gold or silver, or of rare and precious stones, or for other valuable articles of such description as may be contained in small compass, which may be abstracted or lost from any such public inn or hotel, if the same shall not be left with the landlord, his clerk or agent, for deposit, unless such loss shall occur through the fraud or negligence of the landlord, or some clerk or servant employed by him in such inn or hotel; provided, however, that the provisions of this article shall not apply to a wearing watch, or such other articles of jewelry as are ordinarily worn about the person. Art. 2970. Loss through theft by violence
Art. 2970. He is not responsible for what is stolen by force and arms, or with exterior breaking open of doors, or by any other extraordinary violence.
Art. 2971. Limitation on liability of landlords and innkeepers
Art. 2971. No landlord or innkeeper shall be liable under the provisions of the foregoing six articles to any guests or party of guests occupying the same apartments for any loss sustained by such guests or party of guests by theft or otherwise, in any sum exceeding one hundred dollars, unless by special agreement in writing with the proprietor, manager or lessee of the hotel or inn a greater liability has been contracted for.
*686Provided that no guest shall be held bound by the limitation of value established in this Article unless this Article is conspicuously posted in the guest room.
Under arts. 2965-2967, an innkeeper is responsible for the effects brought by travelers and delivered into his personal care or to a servant or person in his employment. He is liable if any of his guests’ effects are stolen or damaged by his servants or agents or by strangers entering the inn. Thus, these articles impose strict liability upon the innkeeper for the loss or damage of his guests’ belongings. The scope of this strict liability, however, is curtailed by art. 2969. If an innkeeper or landlord complies with art. 2968 by providing safe deposit for his guests’ valuable articles and posting written notice to his guests that they must leave their valuables with the landlord, his agent or clerk for safekeeping, then he shall not be liable for any valuable articles described in art. 2969 that are abstracted or lost from his inn if the articles are not left with the landlord, his clerk or agent for deposit, unless the loss occurs through the fraud or negligence of the landlord, or some clerk or servant employed by him. Hence, unless a guest can prove fraud or negligence, an innkeeper who provides safe deposit and post notice is not liable for the valuables of his guests that are not deposited for safekeeping with the inn.
Furthermore, if art. 2971 (limitation on liability of landlords and innkeepers) is conspicuously posted in the guests’ room and the guest fails to leave his valuables in safe deposit, the landlord’s or innkeeper’s liability for the loss of valuables sustained by “theft or otherwise” shall be limited to $100. The majority concludes that this article only applies to an innkeeper’s contractual liability as a depositary and thus does not apply to his liability in tort. I do not agree. There is nothing in the innkeeper’s liability articles to indicate that they are so limited. While the majority’s interpretation of art. 2971 is consistent with French law, this is of little relevance as it does not appear that art. 2971 was derived from any French law. Furthermore, an analysis of the innkeeper’s liability articles shows that the legislature could not have intended to limit art. 2971 to cases of contractual liability. If an innkeeper fails to comply with art. 2968, then he is strictly liable for any loss incurred by his guest and accordingly the limitation of liability provided by art. 2971 would not apply. Under paragraph two of art. 2971, if an innkeeper fails to post the article in the guest’s room, the limitation does not apply. If a guest who fails to deposit his valuables for safekeeping loses his valuables without the occurrence of fraud or negligence and the innkeeper complies with art. 2968, then the limitation of liability provision is not necessary as the innkeeper is not liable. Therefore, the only possible circumstance for the applicability of the limitation of liability is when the guest has failed to deposit his valuables and the innkeeper has complied with arts. 2968 and 2971 but has not been found free from fraud or negligence. Hence, the limitation of liability provision of art. 2971 must apply in cases where the innkeeper is negligent, as to interpret otherwise would render art. 2971 useless.
The only exception to the limitation of liability of art. 2971 is provided in the article itself, wherein it is stated that the limitation does not apply if by special agreement in writing the proprietor, manager or lessee of the inn has contracted for a greater liability. Also, in the case of Pfennig v. Roosevelt Hotel, Inc., 31 So.2d 31 (La.App.Orl.1947), the court of appeal noted that the limitation of liability of art. 2971 would not be available to the innkeeper if the innkeeper, himself, had appropriated the articles or had enriched himself at the expense of the guest.
Because art. 2971 refers back to the “provisions of the foregoing six articles,” it is self-evident that it must be read in pari materia with those articles. Article 2966 creates liability for an innkeeper for effects delivered into his personal care or to a “servant or person in his employment.” He is responsible for effects stolen or damaged by “his servants or agents.” Article 2968 requires an innkeeper to post notice that valuables must be left with the “landlord, *687his agent or clerk.” Under art. 2969, an innkeeper is not liable for effects abstracted or lost if the guest fails to leave his valuables with the “landlord, his clerk or agent” unless the loss occurs through the fraud or negligence of the “landlord, or some clerk or servant employed by him in such inn or hotel.” Furthermore, art. 2971 itself allows a guest to contract with the “proprietor, manager or lessee of the hotel or inn” for a greater liability. Thus, it is clear that the articles on liability of an innkeeper cover both the innkeeper and his employees.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.