Applebaum v. Order of United Commercial Travelers of America

• Decision Date: 03 May 1916
• Docket Number: 441.
• Citation: 88 S.E. 722,171 N.C. 435
• Parties: APPLEBAUM v. ORDER OF UNITED COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS OF AMERICA.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

88 S.E. 722

171 N.C. 435

APPLEBAUM v. ORDER OF UNITED COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS OF AMERICA.

No. 441.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

May 3, 1916

Appeal from Superior Court, Mecklenburg County; Lane, Judge.

Action by Carrie S. Applebaum against the Order of United Commercial Travelers of America. Judgment for the defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Under a certificate of membership in defendant fraternal benefit association, limiting beneficiaries to relatives by blood marriage, or legal adoption, and persons dependent upon member, the bigamous wife of the deceased, not being related or legally dependent, is not entitled to be a beneficiary.

J. F Flowers, of Charlotte, and Anderson, Slate & D'Orr, of Atlanta, Ga., for appellant.

Tillett & Guthrie, of Charlotte, for appellee.

CLARK C.J.

This is an action to recover $5,000 on account of the accidental death of Jerome Applebaum and $1,300 for benefits by the plaintiff as the beneficiary of a certificate of membership issued upon his application to said Jerome Applebaum by the defendant company. The certificate recites as follows:

"Payment in case of death by accident under the provisions of the Constitution shall be made to Callie S. Applebaum, 606 Kinston Ave., Charlotte, N. C., whose relationship to me is that of wife."

Said application also contained the following:

"Note. By the statutes of Ohio, the payment of death benefits shall be confined to the family, heirs, relatives by blood, marriage, or legal adoption (named), affianced wife, or to a person or persons dependent upon the member; and no certificate shall be made payable to 'myself,' 'my estate,' 'persons named in my will,' or to any beneficiary other than designated by the statutes above cited."

Section 7 of defendant's constitution followed this statute and limited the beneficiary to the above-named classes. The defendant, as set out in its answer, is a fraternal benefit association, with lodges, ritualistic form of work, and representative form of government, organized for the purpose of making provision for the payment of benefits as the result of accident and for the sole benefit of its members and their beneficiaries and not for profit. The defendant provides no benefit for profit, but by means of assessments raises funds to be disbursed to its members and their beneficiaries according to the rules and regulations set forth in the constitution and by-laws.

There was much evidence tending to show that the death of Jerome Applebaum was not an...