After staying at the famous Plaza Hotel, my client dropped off her luggage for safekeeping with the Hotel staff.  The Hotel placed the luggage in a special room for their guests after they had checked out.  Upon dropping off the luggage, my client received a ticket which indicated that the luggage was held by the Hotel without any responsibility on the part of the Hotel in the event a particular bag was lost or stolen. The Hotel lost one of her bags containing her jewelry.   Later, the Hotel found the bag, but the jewelry was missing.

The question was whether the Hotel could be sued for negligence even though the receipt said that my client dropped off the luggage at her own risk.  The answer depended on............