Savin v. Butler

19 Ohio App. 68, 1924 Ohio App. LEXIS 130
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 28, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 19 Ohio App. 68 (Savin v. Butler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savin v. Butler, 19 Ohio App. 68, 1924 Ohio App. LEXIS 130 (Ohio Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

Hamilton, J.

The defendant in error, plaintiff below, brought an action ag’ainst the plaintiff in [69]*69error, defendant below, to recover the value of two rings, delivered as a pledge to plaintiff in error, who was a pawnbroker.

The petition pleaded the delivery of the property by the plaintiff, Bntler, to defendant, Savin, a pawnbroker, as a pledge; pleaded the amount of the loan for which the pledge was secured, the amount to be paid by way of interest and storage, the agreement to return the pledged property upon repayment of the loan, the agreement to safely keep, the tender of the amount of the loan, and the refusal to return the pledged property. A copy of the contract of pledge was attached to the petition as an exhibit.

The answer admitted the delivery of the property by way of pledge as security for repayment of the amount loaned, together with interest and storage charges, and followed these admissions with a general denial. The answer, as a defense, set up that while the property was being held by defendant as security, and was being cared for the same as property of the defendant of far greater value than plaintiff’s property, without any carelessness or misconduct of the defendant or his servants, the said rings, together with property of this defendant of much greater value than the property of plaintiff, were taken by robbers at the point of a revolver, on March 23, 1922, and thereby without fault of the defendant or his servants said rings became lost to plaintiff.

The defendant further, by way of cross-petition, alleged that the sum of $105 loaned to the plaintiff was still due and unpaid, and asked judgment on [70]*70the cross-petition for that sum, with interest and costs.

Plaintiff filed a reply to the answer and an answer to the cross-petition, bringing the issues to a close.

It appears from, the record that the defendant, Savin, operated a pawnshop at No. 36 East Sixth street, Cincinnati, Ohio. The show window occupied about half of the width of the front, and glass doors occupied the other half. A passage way ran between the display cases, and against the back wall of the room was a square, iron safe, about six feet high and five feet wide, which could be seen from the street. The plaintiff’s rings were kept in this safe, together with other pledged property and property of the defendant. On the morning of March 23, 1922, about ten a. m., the doors of the safe were standing open, and the combination of the vault or strong box had been worked, so that all that was necessary to be done to get at the strong box was to turn the levers and open the door. On this morning, about ten o’clock, robbers entered the store, and, at the point of revolvers, took a large amount of Savin’s own property, together with much pledged property from the safe, a part of the pledged property taken being the two rings in question.

A trial was had to a jury, resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff, Butler, for the value of the rings, less the amount loaned thereon.

Prom that judgment, the defendant, Savin, prosecutes error to this court, seeking a reversal, claiming prejudicial error in the following respects:

1. In permitting testimony to be adduced, over [71]*71the objections of the defendant, respecting the amount of insurance carried by defendant, the amount of insurance collected by the defendant not on the property of the plaintiff, and whether or not any of the insurance collected was apportioned to plaintiff’s account.

2. In permitting the defendant to be cross-examined, over the objection of defendant’s counsel, on the subject of robberies in general in the city of Cincinnati and vicinity for a period of four or five months preceding the robbery of defendant’s place, and in permitting plaintiff’s counsel to introduce newspaper reports on the subject of alleged robberies through a pretense of refreshing defendant’s memory on the subject.

3. That the tender was not in curia.

4. Improper instructions in the charge of the court.

5. Did the defendant exercise ordinary care!

It is urged that the testimony as to the insurance carried by defendant was improper, as there is no requirement on the part of the bailee to carry insurance on the bailed property; further, that the bailee is not an insurer of the pledged property.

Apropos to the discussion of this question we might observe that the defendant in error in the brief argues that while the pawnbroker is not ordinarily an insurer of pledged property he may make himself liable as an insurer by his contract, and urges that the contract in this case, attached, to the pleadings as an exhibit, and introduced in evidence, makes the defendant Savin an insurer of pledged property, except in case of loss by fife or [72]*72burglary, and relies on the statement in the contract as follows:

“Samuel Savin not to be held accountable in case of fire or burglary.”

This proposition, we presume, is urged under the rule expressio um/ms est exclusio alterius. While there is good authority to sustain this position, we do not find it necessary to determine the question in this case. In fact the case of Morse v. Imperial Grain & Warehouse Co., 40 Cal. App., 574, 181 Pac., 815, and relied upon by counsel for plaintiff in error as an authority, holds that in the absence of statutory laws relating to warehouseman the rule above stated would apply, and quotes the decision of Pope v. Farmers Union Milling Co., 130 Cal, 139, where it was held that a contract of this character should be construed as an absolute promise on the part of the defendant to redeliver the goods, but further held that under the warehouseman statutes this rule no longer obtained in warehouse cases.

Whether or not the statutes relating to ware-housemen apply in the instant case we need not determine.

This was a bailment for mutual benefit. The pledge was given as security. Interest and storage were charged. It is only necessary to apply the law of bailment to the case. The trial court properly ruled that, the burden was upon the bailee, Savin, to show due care on his part to keep the goods. Davidson v. Graham, 2 Ohio St., 132; T. S O. C. Ry. Co. v. Ambach, 10 C. C., 490.

The question of the admissibility of the testimony as to the insurance carried by the bailee, [73]*73Savin, is determined in the rule as to the degree of care required in such cases.

The case of Griffith v. Zipperwick & Lodge, reported in 28 Ohio St., 388, in the third paragraph of the syllabus, lays down the rule covering this question:

‘ ‘ G-ood faith requires, generally, that such a bailee should keep the goods intrusted to him, with as much care as he ordinarily keeps his own, of the same kind. And he should also keep them with such degree of care as is reasonable with reference to the nature of the goods, and the particular circumstances of the bailment.”

On page 401 of the opinion, the court says: “The degree of care due from the depositary depends upon circumstances, such as the nature and quality of the goods bailed, and the character and customs of the place where they are to be kept.

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Bluebook (online)
19 Ohio App. 68, 1924 Ohio App. LEXIS 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savin-v-butler-ohioctapp-1924.