Conner v. Supreme Commandery Golden Cross

• Decision Date: 20 October 1906
• Citation: 97 S.W. 306
• Parties: CONNER v. SUPREME COMMANDERY GOLDEN CROSS.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

97 S.W. 306

CONNER v. SUPREME COMMANDERY GOLDEN CROSS.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

October 20, 1906.

Appeal from Chancery Court, Knox County; Joseph W. Sneed, Chancellor.

Action by Fred J. Conner, as administrator, etc., against the Supreme Commandery Golden Cross. From a decree in favor of defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Jno. W. Green, for complainant. H. T. Cooper, for defendant.

WILKES, J.

This is an action by the administrator of W. A. Conner to recover from the defendant company certain assessments, mortuary calls, and dues paid by the deceased in his lifetime upon a policy of $2,000 in the company.

The right to recover is based upon the theory that the defendant company in May, 1903, increased its rate of assessment on deceased, and thus breached its contract, and forced him out of the company, destroying rights which had vested.

The policy on which the suit is brought was originally issued in 1878, and provided that it should be valid and binding "upon condition that the member should comply in the future with the laws, rules, and regulations that may hereafter be enacted by the Supreme Commandery to govern said commandery and fund."

The by-laws, among other things, provided that, if a member failed to pay his assessment when due, he should "ipso facto" stand disconnected with the order.

The assessment rate of the deceased, when his policy was originally issued and for 20 years thereafter, was $2.17, and payable at irregular dates as deaths occurred.

In 1900 the Supreme Commandery raised the assessment 100 per cent., but provided they should be paid monthly, so that the yearly charge was but little changed.

In 1903 the commandery changed the rates, increasing the assessment on the deceased, and providing that all members should be assessed at their attained age, instead of on the basis of age when they entered the order; but there was to be no increase on a member after 71 years of age.

When this law went into effect the deceased was over 71 years — was in fact about 80 years — old, and his assessment was raised to $12 per month, or $144 per year, when it had theretofore been $52.08 per year.

The sons of deceased had been paying his premiums, but refused to submit to the increased assessment.

The assured died, and this suit was brought to recover the amount paid to the company on the policy, aggregating about $1,500.

No payments were made after September 1, 1903; the assured died February 8, 1905; and this action was brought by the administrator in May, 1905.

The Court of Chancery Appeals finds that the deceased took what is styled the "Golden Star Degree," and that the by-laws then provided that members of the Golden Star degree should pay the same amount on each assessment thereafter while a member of the order; but this was simply the initiating degree, and meant that there was another degree to follow.

The Court of Chancery Appeals finds that, under its modes of assessment prior to 1903, the order had been operated at a loss; that it had not been able to raise enough money to pay its losses by death; that it made the change in good faith, and in order to raise funds to meet death losses, and that some change was imperative; and that the change made in 1903 had the effect to place the order on a better financial basis than it had ever been before.

That court further finds that, when this change was made in 1903, the insured was in such condition, mental and physical, as to be incapable of transacting business, and had been so incapacitated for two or three years before he died.

The Court of Chancery Appeals was of opinion, from the facts found, that the rule increasing the assessments was not unreasonable as to the insured, and did not violate his vested rights, nor breach his contract; and the chancellor was reversed, and complainan...