Ferrero v. Nat'l Council of Knights

Decision Date20 October 1923
Docket NumberNo. 15460.,15460.
Citation141 N.E. 130,309 Ill. 476
PartiesFERRERO v. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF SECURITY.
CourtIllinois Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Action by Minnie Ferrero against the National Council of the Knights and Ladies of Security. From a judgment of the Appellate Court affirming a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals on a certificate of importance.

Reversed and remanded.

Appeal from Appellate Court, Fourth District, on Error to City Court, East St. Louis County; M. Millard, Judge.

A. W. Fulton, John V. McCormick, and S. J. Fulton, all of Chicago, W. Paul Mobley, of St. Louis, Mo., and Edgar P. Holly, of East St. Louis, for appellant.

Beasley & Zulley, of East St. Louis, for appellee.

CARTWRIGHT, J.

On February 19, 1919, Paul J. Ferrero became a member of the local council of the Knights and Ladies of Security at Tilden, in this state, and a benefit certificate of the National Council for $1,000, payable to his wife as beneficiary, was issued and delivered to him. He remained a member of the local council until his death, on May 10, 1921. The appellee, Minnie Ferrero, his widow, brought this suit in the city court of East St. Louis against the appellant, the National Council, and recovered a judgment for $952 and costs. The National Council took the record by writ of error to the Appellate Court for the Fourth District, and that court affirmed the judgment and allowed a certificate of importance and an appeal to this court.

The declaration set forth the benefit certificate and alleged compliance with all its terms, provisions, and conditions. The defendant filed a plea of the general issue and special pleas setting forth two defenses. One defense alleged was that there was a provision of the laws of the society that in case any one holding a certificate should attempt to commit suicide, either sane or insane, the certificate should become null and void, and that the insured on April 3, 1921, attempted to commit suicide. The other defense alleged was based on a provision that in case any member should die by his own hand, whether sane or insane, the full liability of the society should be the amount actually paid by the member to the benefit fund, and it was alleged that the insured died as the result of a wound inflicted upon himself with suicidal intent, and that the amount paid to the benefit fund was $31.10, which had been tendered to the beneficiary and refused. The plaintiff joined issue on the pleas and there was a trial by jury, resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff for $952, upon which the judgment was entered.

The material question of law which this court is called upon to consider arose upon the refusal of the trial court to direct a verdict that the plaintiff was entitled to recover the sum of $31.10 and the verdict should be for the plaintiff for that sum. Where the evidence before the jury, with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, requires a particular verdict, and any other verdict, if returned, must be set aside, a request for an instruction for such a verdict should be granted and the instruction given. The question whether the evidence, with all the legitimate and natural inferences to be drawn therefrom, necessarily leads to a certain conclusion, is a question of law. The defendant, at the conclusion of the evidence for the plaintiff, asked the court to direct the verdict as stated and tendered an instruction which the court refused to give, and at the conclusion of all the evidence the request was again made and the instruction tendered and it was again refused. The Appellate Court did not consider the refusal, stating as a reason that the defendant waived its right by offering evidenceon its part after the close of the evidence for plaintiff. By introducing its evidence after the refusal of the first request the defendant waived any error in refusing that instruction on the evidence as it then stood, but the request was renewed at the close of all the evidence, so that there was no waiver of any right to the instruction on all the evidence.

The conditions of the contract of Ferrero with the defendant were as alleged in the special pleas and there was no controverted question of fact. It was proved that on April 8, 1921, the insured, Ferrero, attacked his wife with a hatchet at their home in Tilden. She ran from the house, screaming and covered with blood, leaving no one in the house but her husband and their three children, aged two, six, and eight, respectively. Neighbors entering the house found Ferrero sitting in a chair with a hatchet lying on the table near him and a razor covered with blood lying on the floor within his reach. The floor was covered with blood and his throat was cut, severing the upper part of the trachea, which also has the...

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18 cases
  • Hamilton v. Williams
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • May 15, 1991
    ... ... Brand (1930), 339 Ill. 504, 524, 171 N.E. 494; Ferrero v. National Council of ... Page 1286 ... [158 Ill.Dec. 101] Knights & ... ...
  • Kane v. American Nat. Bank & Trust Co.
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • August 6, 1974
    ...Commercial Code. UCC 1--103. Both parties agree on the applicable definition of waiver as stated in Ferrero v. Knights and Ladies of Security (1923), 309 Ill. 476, 481, 141 N.E. 130, 132: 'To constitute a waiver it is essential that there is an existing right, benefit or advantage, knowledg......
  • Lake Shore Country Club v. Brand
    • United States
    • Illinois Supreme Court
    • June 6, 1930
    ... ... 254, 158 N. E. 442;Boardman v. Bubert, 325 Ill. 38, 155 N. E. 784;Ferrero v. Knights of Security, 309 Ill. 476, 141 N. E. 130. We are of the opinion ... ...
  • A. W. Sewell Co. v. Commercial Casualty Ins. Co
    • United States
    • Utah Supreme Court
    • October 20, 1932
    ... ... Modern Woodmen ... of America , 221 Ill.App. 388; Ferrero v ... National Council of Knights , 309 Ill. 476, 141 N.E ... 130; ... ...
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