640 F. 2d 508 - Margreiter v. New Hotel Monteleone Inc
Home640 f2d 508 margreiter v. new hotel monteleone inc
640 F2d 508 Margreiter v. New Hotel Monteleone Inc
640 F.2d 508
Douglas T. MARGREITER, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
NEW HOTEL MONTELEONE, INC. and Liberty Mutual Insurance
Company, Defendants-Appellants.
No. 79-3149.
United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.
Unit A
Jan. 19, 1981.
Christovich & Kearney, A. R. Christovich, Jr., Steven M. Lozes, New Orleans, La., for defendants-appellants.
David W. Oestreicher, II, Ralph S. Whalen, Jr., New Orleans, La., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before COLEMAN, Chief Judge, and CHARLES CLARK and REAVLEY, Circuit Judges.
REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:
1
Douglas Margreiter was severely injured in New Orleans on the night of April 6, 1976. He sued the Monteleone
Hotel, saying that he was taken from his room there by two men who had a key to that room, the use of an elevator and unimpeded access and exit into an alley-permitted by the Hotel's lack of care to protect its guests.
The Hotel contended that Margreiter was on an intoxicated venture and met his fate outside the Hotel. The jury found in favor of Margreiter. The judgment was reduced from $750,000 to $400,000 by remittitur. We affirm.
2
Margreiter was chief of the pharmacy section of the Colorado Department of Social Services and was in New
Orleans to attend the annual meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association. On Tuesday evening, April 6, he had dinner at the Royal Sonesta Hotel with two associates from Colorado who were also attending the association meeting, and who had adjacent rooms at the Monteleone Hotel. Margreiter returned to his room between 10:30 and 11:00 o'clock. His friend Peebles returned to his adjoining room at the same time. His friend
Bogan was