jamison@hobbes.Corp.Sun.COM (& Gray) (05/10/91)
I heard an interesting short piece on our local NPR affiliate, KQED-FM, recently that made me think of the earlier discussions of travelling with laptops in this newsgroup. The commentator (apparently a lawyer who regularly comments on legal affairs) told of a woman who checked into a Hyatt hotel in San Francisco and checked $75,000 worth of jewelry in the hotel safe. The jewels were subsequently stolen from the safe, but Hyatt was not required to reimburse her more than $500. This is due to the little-known California Innkeeper's Law, passed in the mid-1800's. This law contains the following provisions: 1) If a hotel has a safe, and publicly displays the fact that it is available for guests' use, they are only liable for items stolen from guests' rooms to a maximum of $500. 2) If a guest's property is left in the hotel's safe and stolen from there, the hotel is only only liable up to a maximum of $500, UNLESS the guest had declared the value of the items before they were placed in the safe, and that written declaration was agreed to by the hotel. 3) If a hotel does NOT have a safe available for guests, they are only liable for the value of property stolen from rooms up to a maximum of $1000. In this particular woman's case, she had had the jewels placed in the safe, but did not present a written declaration of their value and have the value agreed to by the hotel keeper. Owners of expensive laptops travelling to or within California probably should be aware of this law, and plan accordingly. If you're worried about the theft of your travelling workstation, leave it in the hotel safe and DECLARE ITS VALUE TO THE HOTELKEEPER. -- Jamie Gray -- Jamison Gray, jamison@Eng.Sun.COM "Football is a mistake. It combines Sun Microsystems, M.S. 21-04 the two worst elements of American Life: Mountain View, CA 94043 violence and committee meetings" -George Will
xiaoy@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu (XIAO Yan) (05/10/91)
In article <JAMISON.91May9191917@hobbes.Corp.Sun.COM> jamison@hobbes.Corp.Sun.COM (& Gray) writes: > >Owners of expensive laptops travelling to or within California >probably should be aware of this law, and plan accordingly. >If you're worried about the theft of your travelling workstation, >leave it in the hotel safe and DECLARE ITS VALUE TO THE HOTELKEEPER. > > -- Jamie Gray >-- Assume you've got an AMEX and checked in a hotel that AMEX is honored, will that be okay? -- Cheap 1000SE owner