Independent Order of Sons & Daughters of Jacob of America v. Moncrief

• Decision Date: 22 November 1909
• Docket Number: 14,008
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF JACOB OF AMERICA v. SAUL MONCRIEF

50 So. 558

96 Miss. 419

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF JACOB OF AMERICA v. SAUL MONCRIEF

No. 14,008

Supreme Court of Mississippi

November 22, 1909

FROM the chancery court of Newton county, HON. SAMUEL WHITMAN JR., Chancellor.

Moncrief appellee, was complainant in the court below; the Independent Order, etc., appellant, was defendant there. From a decree overruling defendant's demurrer to the bill of complaint it appealed to the supreme court.

The bill charged that one Adaline Moncrief, complainant's wife, held a death benefit certificate in the appellant order, in which complainant was the beneficiary, of date January 26, 1904; that she had paid all dues on same up to July, 1907; that his said wife became sick with tuberculosis in January, 1907, and died the following December; that during the time of her sickness the said order made no allowances to her in the nature of a sick benefit, although she was in needy circumstances; that proper proof of death had been made by complainant, the beneficiary in the certificate, to whom it was due, but payment of the policy had been refused by defendant. The bill further charged that the wife of the complainant was, because of her poverty unable to make payments of her monthly dues from July, 1907 until her death; that it was the duty of said order to allow her the sick benefit, and that the scribe, an officer of defendant, should have had this allowance made, and deducted her dues from the amount, and sent her the balance, which he failed to do; and that because of said failure his said wife was not in default in the payment of monthly dues. The bill makes the constitution and by-laws a part thereof, and refers to them specially, and alleges that complainant is not in possession of a copy of same, and prays that the defendant be required to bring them into court for inspection.

To this bill the defendant demurred, on the grounds that complainant's wife was not in good standing, because she had failed to pay assessments, being several months in arrears at the time of her death, and had forfeited her membership under the constitution and by-laws; that according to the constitution and bylaws a sick benefit could not be allowed her, except by vote of the local lodge, and that it was not the mandatory duty of the lodge to order a sick benefit, and that it was not the duty of the scribe to do so without the matter having been acted upon by the local lodge; that, the defendant's intestate having failed, refused, and neglected to comply with the terms and conditions of her contract, she had forfeited her membership and right to a death benefit, all of which would appear from the bill itself and the constitution and by-laws of said order.

Reversed.

W. J. Latham, for appellant.

It is an elementary proposition of law regarding mutual or fraternal benefit societies, that the policy or certificate and bylaws and constitution of the society together constitute the contract of membership between the member and the society. Maderia v. Merchant's Exchange Mut. Ben. Soc. (C. C.), 16 F. 794; Smith v. Bouditch Mut. F. Ins. Co., 6 Cush. (Mass.) 448; 1 Cooley's Briefs on Insurance, 692, 693. And the insured is charged with knowledge of this in the by-laws and constitution. The by-laws and constitution are made a part of the bill of complaint in this case. Bauer v. Sampson Lodge, 102 Ind. 262, 1 Bacon on Ben. Soc. § 81; Pfister v. Gerwick, 122 Ind. 567.

It will be seen from the enacting clause in book of laws, sec. 1, p. 63, that the by-laws and constitution filed in the cause at the request of appellee, were in force and effect at the time of the forfeiture and death of the insured, Adaline Moncrief.

Upon the failure of Adaline Moncrief to pay the assessment which became due and payable on or before the 10th day of July, 1907, she became unfinancial and suspended from the benefits provided for financial members of the order.

The liability and obligations of every member of the appellant is fixed to a certainty, without any reservation or exceptions by the by-laws and constitution. Sec. 5, p. 30.

The law is self-executing and the moment the time has passed for payment and the member not having paid, she is then suspended without any action of the order or subordinate branch. Sec. 9, p. 32.

The authorities are uniform in holding that a fraternal benefit society has the right to enact by-laws which will of themselves work a forfeiture upon the failure of a member to strictly comply with them, without the necessity of any further action being taken by the order or its officers, and no recovery can be had upon the member's benefit certificate. Illinois M. B. S. v. Baldwin, 86 Ill. 479; Bargraete v. K. H., 22 Mo.App. 137, 142; Stewart v. Supreme Council, 36 Ind. 319; Lehman v. Clarke, 174 Ill. 279; Scheele v. Grand Lodge, 63 Mo.App. 277; Rood v. Railway Pas. Assn., 31 F. 62; Rosworth v. Western M. & Assn., 75 Iowa 582; McInnis v. New Orleans Cotton Exc. Assn., 10 So. 180.

Sickness and poverty are no excuse and do not relieve the insured from the burdens of paying the assessments required of all members alike. 3 Cooley's Briefs on Insurance, 2380, 2381; Hawkskaw v. K. of H. (C. C.), 29 F. 770; McElhone v. Mass. Assn., 2 App. D. C. 397; Grand Lodge A. O. W. W. v. Jesse, 50 Ill.App. 101; Carpenter v. Centennial Life Assn., 68 Iowa 453; Yoe v. Howard Masonic Mut. Ben. Assn., 63 Md. 86.

The constitution and by-laws of the order nowhere provide that a sick member should receive benefits at all events, but on the contrary it has express provisions against such allowances by the subordinate lodges. Sec. 2, p....