## Facts

- On August 14, 1945 (V-J Day), Beulah Larson was walking on the sidewalk near the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco during large public celebrations.
- After Larson stepped out from under the hotel’s marquee, she was struck on the head by a heavy armchair, knocked unconscious, and injured.
- The area and hotel were crowded; the chair’s source was not observed, and no witness identified the chair as hotel property.
- For purposes of the hotel’s nonsuit motion, the court assumed it was a reasonable inference that the chair came from some portion of the hotel.
- Larson presented no evidence that a hotel employee caused the chair to fall or that any specific negligent act or omission by the hotel caused the incident.
- Larson rested solely on res ipsa loquitur to infer negligence from the occurrence itself.

## Issues

1. Whether res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence against a hotel when a chair apparently came from the hotel but could have been thrown or dropped by an unknown third person.
2. Whether the “exclusive control and management” element of res ipsa loquitur is satisfied where hotel furniture is accessible to guests and others.
3. Whether the nature of the accident supports an inference that it would not ordinarily occur absent negligence by the hotel using ordinary care.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of nonsuit for the hotel.
- Res ipsa loquitur did not apply because the hotel lacked exclusive control over the chair at the relevant time.
- The accident could have occurred even if the hotel exercised ordinary care, given the possibility of a spontaneous act by a guest or other person.
- Without evidence making hotel negligence more probable than alternative causes outside the hotel’s responsibility, the case could not go to the jury on res ipsa loquitur alone.

## Legal Principles

- Res ipsa loquitur requires proof of: (1) an accident; (2) an instrumentality under the defendant’s exclusive control and management at the time of the likely negligent act; and (3) an accident that ordinarily would not occur if the defendant used ordinary care.
- Exclusive control is not established merely by a defendant’s ownership or general authority over the premises; access by guests or other third parties can defeat exclusivity.
- Res ipsa loquitur does not apply where responsibility is divided and the unexplained event may be attributable to one of several causes, including causes for which the defendant is not responsible.
- When alternative, non-defendant causes remain equally plausible and unrebutted, res ipsa loquitur cannot supply the missing proof of negligence.

## Conclusion

The court held that an unexplained falling chair incident during crowded celebrations did not warrant res ipsa loquitur against the hotel because the chair was not shown to be in the hotel’s exclusive control and the occurrence could have resulted from a third party’s act despite the hotel’s ordinary care; the nonsuit was therefore properly affirmed.


Larson v. St. Francis Hotel, 83 Cal. App. 2d 210, 188 P.2d 513 (Cal. Ct. App. 1948)