Civil liability of innkeepers limited.
1. An owner or keeper of any hotel, inn, motel, motor court, boardinghouse or lodginghouse in this state is not civilly liable for the theft, loss, damage or destruction of any property brought by a patron upon the premises or left in a motor vehicle upon the premises because of theft, burglary, fire or otherwise, in the absence of gross neglect by the owner or keeper.
2. An owner or keeper of any hotel, inn, motel, motor court, boardinghouse or lodginghouse in this state is not civilly liable for the theft, loss, damage or destruction of any property of a guest left in a guest room if:
(a) The owner or keeper provides a fireproof safe or vault in which guests may deposit property for safekeeping;
(b) Notice of this service is personally given to a guest or posted in the office and the guest’s room; and
(c) The property is not offered for deposit in the safe or vault by a guest,
Ê unless the owner or keeper is grossly negligent.
3. An owner or keeper is not obligated to receive property to deposit for safekeeping which exceeds $750 in value or is of a size which cannot easily fit within the safe or vault.
4. The liability of the owner or keeper does not exceed the sum of $750 for any property, including, but not limited to, property which is not deposited in a safe or vault because it cannot easily fit within the safe or vault, of an individual patron or guest, unless the owner or keeper receives the property for deposit for safekeeping and consents to assume a liability greater than $750 for its theft, loss, damage or destruction in a written agreement in which the patron or guest specifies the value of the property.
Last modified: February 27, 2006