Treesh v. Stone

WORKS, J.

This is an appeal by the defendant from a money judgment in favor of the plaintiff. The appellant conducted a hotel and the respondent occupied a housekeeping apartment in the place under an agreement to pay in advance a monthly rental of $30. As a part of the agreement

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under which the apartment was let it was understood that respondent might leave at the desk of the clerk of the hotel such apparel as she desired to have laundered from time to time and that, after it was laundered, it should be returned to her there. On one occasion she left at the desk a parcel for the laundry and it was lost through the fault of the hotel management. This loss occurred in June and, respondent having asserted a claim against appellant for the value of the missing parcel, the matter was left in abeyance, at the request of appellant, pending an attempt to locate it, respondent not paying her rent in the meanwhile. On August 21st appellant notified respondent that the parcel could not be found and on the next day she wrote appellant a note inclosing a list of the articles which had been lost, with an itemized statement of values amounting to $30.25. She also stated her total indebtedness to the hotel for July rent, with certain extras added, at $31.65, and inclosed a check for the balance, $1.40. She also inclosed her check for $30 to cover the rent for August. The note which accompanied these inclosures contained a request for receipts in full for the two months. On August ;27th, while respondent was absent from her apartment, appellant changed the lock on her door and refused to allow her to enter her rooms on her return. The present suit was the outcome of this chain of events.

The complaint alleged, in addition to the matters above stated, that the eviction of respondent occurred without notice to her of the rejection of the offer contained in her letter, without a return to her of the checks, without giving her a thirty-day notice terminating her tenancy or a three-day notice to pay rent or vacate; that the eviction was made wantonly,- willfully, and maliciously and with intent to compel respondent to pay appellant more than was due him; that appellant advised respondent’s friends who came to call upon her that the apartment had been closed and that respondent no longer resided in the hotel; that on September 4th, in order to get possession of her property and to avoid further humiliation and annoyance, respondent was forced to and did pay to appellant the sum of $65.30, which included rental to September 1st; and that, by reason of the acts of appellant, respondent was damaged in the sum of $30.25, the value of the laundry parcel, and