Campbell v. American Ben. Club Fraternity

• Decision Date: 17 March 1903
• Citation: 100 Mo. App. 249,73 S.W. 342
• Parties: CAMPBELL v. AMERICAN BEN. CLUB FRATERNITY.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

73 S.W. 342

100 Mo. App. 249

CAMPBELL v. AMERICAN BEN. CLUB FRATERNITY.

Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Missouri.

March 17, 1903.

BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATIONS—SUBSEQUENT BYLAWS IMPAIRING INSURANCE—FOLLOWING DECISION OF ANOTHER STATE.

1. Provision in the application and certificate of a member of a beneficial association that he accepts the certificate subject to all future laws of the association, renders binding on him only after-adopted laws for the conduct of the association, duties of members, and the like, and not such as impair his contract of insurance.

2. Though the Supreme Court of the state in which one became a member of a beneficial association has decided that the provision in a certificate of membership that the member accepts it subject to all future laws of the association makes binding on him subsequent bylaws impairing his contract of insurance, this will not be followed in an action for his insurance.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Warwick Hough, Judge.

Action by A. B. Campbell against the American Benefit Club Fraternity. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Reversed conditionally.

Nathan Frank and R. A. Jones, for appellant. R. P. & C. P. Williams, for respondent.

REYBURN, J.

At Aberdeen, Miss., in January, 1886, Hugh Campbell, the deceased husband of respondent, became a member of a fraternal beneficial organization, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Kentucky, with its principal office in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. This association had a local lodge at Aberdeen, of which the assured became a member, termed, in the language of the order, "Castle Gregg," and received a beneficial certificate from this, the Knights of the Golden Rule, on which this suit is brought, having made it payable to his wife, the plaintiff. The application for membership contained a stipulation to accept the certificate subject to the laws of the order then in force or which might thereafter be enacted by the supreme commandery. The certificate itself contained the following provisions: "This certificate issued by the authority of the Supreme Commandery Knights of the Golden Rule, Witnesseth: That the Order of the Golden Rule has been conferred upon Hugh Campbell, who is now a member of the order in good standing, Castle Gregg, No. 198, located at Aberdeen, State of Mississippi, and in consideration of the representations and declarations made in his application for this certificate, which is made a part hereof, and full compliance with all the laws of this Order now in force or that may hereafter be enacted, one thousand dollars, together with accrued assessments, will be paid from Benefit Fund of the Second Class of this Order by the Supreme Commandery, Knights of the Golden Rule to his wife, Mrs. A. B. Campbell, or as may hereafter be directed in his application for change hereof: provided, however, when there are not sufficient members in this class to pay the maximum benefit there shall only be paid the sum realized on one assessment in this Class on the death of said Comrade less ten per cent. to the Contingent Fund, as provided by law, together with the full amount of accrued assessments paid by him in this Class." The contingent fund mentioned to which this 10 per cent. was to go was the fund from which, under the laws of the order, all expenses and accrued assessments which were to be returned were to be derived, and the sources of revenue of the order were this 10 per cent. of the assessments and the whole of the membership fees paid by the members. The order was then divided into five classes, designated "1," "2," "3," "Senior," and "Female," and the maximum benefits payable in these respective classes were $500, $100, $2,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, and this certificate was of the second class, entitling the beneficiary to $1,000 on the conditions above enumerated.

A law of the order at the time of the issuance of the certificate, respecting the disposition of the assessments collected in each class and the payment of benefits, provided that the knights' benefits paid into the supreme treasury by members of each class should be held separate, each from the other, so that members of one class should not be made to contribute to the fund of another. In 1892, at a meeting of the supreme commandery of the order, at which the lodge joined by Campbell was represented, the laws of the order were amended to abolish these classes, and eliminate the limitation upon payment of benefits to assessments derived from members of the particular class in which the certificate was issued, so that thereafter, members of the entire order contributed to payment of benefits on all death losses, which were paid from the common fund, and, for the purpose of apportioning the part of the assessments on the whole membership of the order to be paid on each certificate, three sections were created according to the maximum benefit each should receive, the first receiving $500, the second $1,000 and the third $2,000, and the following law adopted: "The Knights' and Ladies' Benefits paid into the Supreme Treasury by members of different sections shall be held in common. When the amount realized by one...