Leumann v. Grand Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen
| Decision Date | 20 January 1910 |
| Docket Number | 15,897 |
| Citation | 124 N.W. 475,85 Neb. 803 |
| Parties | MATHELDE LEUMANN ET AL., APPELLANTS, v. GRAND LODGE, ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN, APPELLEE |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Lancaster county: LINCOLN FROST JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
G. W Berge, for appellants.
R. R Horth, contra.
Action on a fraternal benefit certificate issued by the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Nebraska for the sum of $ 2,000 to one Harry C. Vanderberg, deceased. The cause was submitted to the district court on a demurrer to the petition. Defendant had judgment, and the plaintiffs have appealed.
The question presented by the record is: Did the district court err in sustaining defendant's demurrer and dismissing plaintiffs' action? The petition is too long to be copied in full in this opinion, and it is sufficient to say that it alleges, in substance, the organization and corporate existence of the defendant association under the laws of this state. It sets forth the fact that Harry C. Vanderberg joined the defendant order and became a member of Concordia Lodge No. 151 of Lincoln, Nebraska, which was and is one of the subordinate lodges of the defendant; that thereupon, and on the 15th day of March, 1894, the defendant issued to him its indemnity certificate for the sum of $ 2,000, in which his wife, Mathelde Vandeberg, was named as beneficiary; that on the 9th day of February, 1902, said beneficiary died, and on the 4th day of March of that year Vanderberg surrendered his certificate of indemnity, and at his request defendant issued to him a new certificate, in which his daughter Josephine was named as beneficiary. The terms of his original certificate however, are nowhere set forth in the petition. The petition further alleges that on the 24th day of April, 1903, Josephine M. Vanderberg, the beneficiary named in the new certificate, died, and thereafter Harry C. Vanderberg had no legal heirs or relatives living which were related to him by blood, or could be named under the then existing statutes of this state as his beneficiary; that after the death of his daughter, and on the 2d day of May, 1903, Vanderberg wrote a letter to one G. R. Wolf, who it is alleged was at that time the financier of local lodge No. 151 at Lincoln, Nebraska, informing him of the death of his daughter, and saying, among other things: To this letter, plaintiffs allege, Wolf made the following reply: It is further alleged that on July 18, and shortly after Vanderberg's death, Julius Adrian, one of the plaintiffs herein, paid to Wolf the July assessment of $ 1, and 75 cents advanced by him, as above stated. It is also alleged that Wolf was the proper official of the lodge to receive and receipt for such payments, but it is nowhere stated that Wolf had any power or authority to answer Vanderberg's inquiry, or change or authorize a change of the beneficiary named in the benefit certificate in suit. Neither is it alleged that he had authority to in any manner bind the defendant in that respect. The petition then sets out Vanderberg's so-called will, which contains the following: Notice of Vanderberg's death and the demand for the payment of the amount...
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Leumann v. Grand Lodge A. O U. W. of Neb.
... ... 20, 1910 ... Syllabus by the Court.[124 N.W. 475]In order to maintain an action to recover the indemnity provided for by a benefit ... Action by Mathelde Leumann and others against the Grand Lodge Ancient Order of United Workmen of Nebraska. Judgment for defendant, and ... ...