Hutcherson v. Sovereign Camp, W. O. W.

• Decision Date: 26 April 1922
• Docket Number: (No. 8186.)
• Citation: 241 S.W. 516
• Parties: HUTCHERSON v. SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

241 S.W. 516

HUTCHERSON v. SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W.

(No. 8186.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Galveston.

April 26, 1922.

Rehearing Denied May 18, 1922.

Appeal from District Court, Anderson County; W. R. Bishop, Judge.

Action by Gladys Hutcherson, for herself and as guardian of her minor children, against the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Seagler & Pickett, of Palestine, for appellant.

Campbell, Greenwood & Barton, of Palestine, for appellee.

GRAVES, J.

This suit was brought by Mrs. Gladys Hutcherson for herself and as guardian of her two minor children against the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World, an incorporated fraternal beneficiary association, to recover upon a benefit certificate issued by it to her husband and the father of the minors, Willie J. Hutcherson.

The cause was tried before the court below upon an agreed statement of facts, the pertinent portions of which are as follows:

"The application for the insurance, among other things, provided that `all of the provisions of the constitution and laws of the Society, now in force or that may hereafter be adopted, shall constitute the basis for, and form a part of any beneficiary certificate that should be executed by defendant to the insured'; that in consideration of the application and agreements therein contained, the defendant issued to Willie J. Hutcherson its beneficiary certificate No. 397,477 in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars if his death should occur during the second year of the life of said certificate; that the insured became a member in good standing of defendant's subsidiary camp at Palestine, Tex., as alleged, and that its beneficiary certificate, as aforesaid, was duly delivered to the insured and accepted by him, and that all dues and assessments required by the order had been paid by the insured; that the said Willie J. Hutcherson was in good standing in said order at the time of his death, and that he died during the second year of his membership.

"That the constitution and by-laws of defendant provide, and the certificate sued on herein contains, the following stipulation, to wit: `If the member holding this certificate * * * should die * * * by the hands of the beneficiary or beneficiaries named herein, except by accident * * * this certificate shall be null and void and of no effect, and all moneys which shall have been paid, and all rights and benefits which have accrued on account of this certificate shall be absolutely forfeited without notice or service.'

"The constitution and by-laws of defendant, among other things, contain the following provisions:

"`* * * There shall be paid a sum not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000.00), to the person or persons named in his certificate as beneficiary or beneficiaries, which beneficiary or beneficiaries shall be his wife, children, adopted children, parents, brothers and sisters, or other blood relations, or to persons dependent upon the member.'

"`In the event of the death of all the beneficiaries designated before the death of the member, if no new designation has been made, the benefits shall be paid to the surviving widow and surviving children of the member, share and share alike, provided such widow shall not be entitled to any benefits if she shall have been divorced; provided, further, that if there be no surviving widow, the surviving children, if any, shall be entitled to all of such benefits. * * *'

"`If there be no person surviving the member who is a legal beneficiary as defined in this section, or if no claim for the benefits is made by any person or persons, within two years from the death of the member, then said benefits shall revert to the beneficiary fund of this society.'

"`In the event that the benefits are made payable to the wife of the member and they be divorced from each other, and no new designation of beneficiary has been made, the benefits shall be payable as though the designated beneficiary had predeceased the member and no new beneficiary had been designated, as provided in this section.'

"That the insured, Willie J. Hutcherson, died on or about the 27th day of May, 1919; that he was killed by the plaintiff, Mrs. Gladys Hutcherson, the beneficiary named in said policy, under the following circumstances: On the morning of the day of the killing, plaintiff and insured had quarreled; that at noon of the same day they again had a family quarrel; that just after noon, while the plaintiff was sitting on the edge of a bed in one of the rooms of their home, she saw the insured coming up on the back porch, in anger,...