Cunningham

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment upon a verdict against it for $500 in an action in which the plaintiff sought to recover $931, the alleged value of a suitcase and contents left with the defendant in storage. The testimony showed that on or about November 15, 1918 (when it is alleged the suitcase was checked with the defendant), the plaintiff was an enlisted man in the United States navy. He claims to have checked his suitcase with the army and navy branch of the Y. M. C. A. at 266 Embarcadero, San Francisco, and this claim is sustained by his own testimony and by a paper check produced by him at the trial, bearing a number and, among other things, the printed words: "The article checked on this check is left with the Association at owner's risk subject to storage rates and rules, and may be disposed of when storage is due six months." When plaintiff presented his check to secure the return of his suitcase it could not be found, and defendant refused to compensate plaintiff for the loss thereof. The suitcase, according to the testimony, was an "accordeon pleated" or extension leather suitcase, containing everything owned by the plaintiff and collected by him…