Boyce v. Royal Circle

• Decision Date: 17 March 1903
• Citation: 73 S.W. 300,99 Mo. App. 349
• Parties: BOYCE et al. v. ROYAL CIRCLE.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

73 S.W. 300

99 Mo. App. 349

BOYCE et al. v. ROYAL CIRCLE.

Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Missouri.

March 17, 1903.

MUTUAL BENEFIT INSURANCE — DUES — PER CAPITA TAX—FAILURE TO PAY—FORFEITURES — ENFORCEMENT — WAIVER — AUTHORITY OF LOCAL OFFICERS.

1. The constitution and by-laws of a benefit society required members to pay the local secretary monthly assessments on the 1st day of each month, and a semiannual per capita tax on the 1st days of December and June of each year, and declared that any member who failed to pay such assessments within 30 days, or his per capita tax during the months of December and June, thereby elected to terminate his membership, was suspended, and surrendered his rights. Held, in the absence of evidence of a custom to receive such assessments and per capita tax after the time for their payment had expired, that the local secretary had no power to waive a forfeiture of a certificate by receiving delinquent assessments.

2. Where, in an action on a benefit certificate, the evidence tended to prove that monthly assessments were required to be paid by the holder, and a semiannual per capita tax, and the by-laws of the association provided a forfeiture for a failure to pay the tax at maturity, as well as for failure to pay the monthly assessments, the association was entitled to enforce a forfeiture for a member's failure to pay the per capita tax at maturity, as well as for a failure to pay the assessments.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Texas County; Leigh B. Woodside, Judge.

Action by Katie Boyce and another against the Royal Circle. From a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Reversed.

J. L. Lamphier, Vocert & Covert, and Edwin Puller, for appellant. W. L. Hiett and Lamar & Lamar, for respondents.

Statement of Facts and Opinion.

GOODE, J.

Plaintiffs state in their petition that they are the beneficiaries of a certificate of insurance in the defendant corporation, a fraternal order, organized under the laws of the state of Illinois, but authorized to do business in Missouri; that the contract of insurance was entered into between the deceased, Thomas J. Henderson, and the defendant, on October 11, 1899, said Henderson being then a member of a local circle of the defendant company at Cabool, Mo.; that the consideration for the insurance was that said Henderson, in addition to certain advance fees paid by him, should thereafter comply with the rules and regulations of the defendant either then in force or subsequently enacted. The benefit certificate was for $1,000, and bound the Royal Circle, on the death of Henderson, to pay to Katie Boyce, his mother, and Minnie Henderson, his sister, said sum, upon satisfactory proof of the death of the assured. Plaintiffs further state that said Henderson complied with all the terms and conditions of the contract, as well as all the rules and regulations of the circle; that in August, 1901, while still a member of the Cabool Circle, in good standing, he died, with his certificate in full force and effect; that after his death the local circle, in violation of the laws of the order, refused to furnish blank forms whereon to make proof of the death of said insured, and also refused to pay the amount of the certificate, or any part of it. The answer admits the membership of Henderson, and the contract of insurance in which the plaintiffs were beneficiaries, and that Henderson died on the date alleged in the petition, but denies that he complied with his contract and the constitution, by-laws and rules of the society, or that he died a member of the association in good standing. The answer then sets forth certain provisions of the constitution and by-laws which obliged the members to pay the local secretary of their circle an assessment of varying amounts, according to the ages of the paying member, on the 1st day of each month, which money the local secretary was to forward to the supreme secretary; further, to create an expense fund, a semiannual per capita tax of 75 cents was required to be paid by each beneficial member on the 1st days of December and June of each year. Another article provided that a member who failed to pay this assessment for the benefit fund within 30 days from the date the same fell due, or to pay his per capita tax during the months of December and June of each year, elected, by such failure to pay, to at once terminate his membership in the order, and thereby stand suspended, and elected not to hold the order for any liability whatever, but surrendered all his rights as a beneficial member. The answer then alleges that Henderson, instead of complying with the rules and regulations, failed to pay any assessments after the month of April, 1900, and failed to pay his per capita tax during the month of June, 1900, and that in fact the last payment he made was...