HUXLEY v. HAYES

HUXLEY v. HAYES. (Circuit Court, E. D. Pennsylvania. November 8, 1911.) No. 1,440. Torts (§ 11*) — Persons Liabue — -Unjustified Claim to Property. One who in good faith claims the ownership of property in the custody of a bailee, or some indifferent person, by giving notice of his claim to the custodian, does not thereby render himself liable in damages to the true owner, should his claim afterward prove mistaken. [Ed. Note.- — For other cases, see Torts, Dec. Dig. § 11.*] ♦For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Ttep’r Indexes At Law. Action by Norman S. Huxley against James A. Hayes, Jr. On demurrer to statement of claim. Demurrer sustained. Rudolph M. Schick, for plaintiff. George S. Munson and Abraham M. Beitler, for defendant. [MAJORITY — J. B. McPHERSON, District Judge.] J. B. McPHERSON, District Judge. The cases referred to by the plaintiff in support of his statement do not, I think, go as far as he supposes. If a trespass has been committed upon either person or property, he who procures or helps, even at a distance, may be liable equally wjth him who applies the injurious force. But I do not understand it to be the law that he who in good faith asserts his ownership of property that is in the custody of a bailee, or of some indifferent person, may not give notice of his claim to the bailee, except at the risk of being cast in damages if the assertion turns out after-wards to be mistaken. Nothing else appears in the present case, and in my opinion, therefore, the action cannot be sustained. The question has been decided in favor of the defendant by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Norcross v. Otis, 152 Pa. 481, 25 Atl. 575, 34 Am. St. Rep. 669. The fifth ground of demurrer is sustained.