Loyal Mystic Legion of Am. v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 03 May 1906
• Citation: Loyal Mystic Legion of Am. v. Richardson, 76 Neb. 562, 107 N.W. 795 (Neb. 1906)
• Parties: LOYAL MYSTIC LEGION OF AMERICA v. RICHARDSON.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

76 Neb. 562

107 N.W. 795

LOYAL MYSTIC LEGION OF AMERICA

v.RICHARDSON.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

May 3, 1906.

Syllabus by the Court.

Where it appears from the constitution of a benefit society which insures the life of its members that initiation and the payment of one advance assessment is indispensable to membership, the fact that the person's application has been accepted and his petition fee paid will not entitle his beneficiary to any insurance in the event of his death before he has been initiated and paid the one advance assessment required.

Commissioners' Opinion.DepartmentNo. 2.Error to District Court, Hall County; Hanna, Judge.

Action by Emma A. Richardson against the Loyal Mystic Legion of America.Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error.Reversed and remanded.Tibbets Bros. & Morey, for plaintiff in error.

W. H. Thompson, for defendant in error.

DUFFIE, C.

Article 22 of the constitution of Supreme Council of the Loyal Mystic Legion of America is in the following language: “Only the Supreme Council of the board of directors shall have power and authority to constitute, suspend, or reconstitute the subordinate councils of this order, which shall be done either by an officer of the Supreme Council, or by a member of the order, duly commissioned by the board of directors, through the Supreme Worthy Councilor.A member so commissioned or any elective officer of the Supreme Council shall have power to install officers and obligate applicants for membership.Provided, that if at the proper time for installing officers there is not present a supreme officer, or a deputy of the order, then any elective officer of the council who has been regularly installed may perform the duty.”Section 3 of the by-laws of subordinate councils provides for the formation of a subordinate council as follows: “Any number of persons, not less than ten, who are eligible and who shall comply with the rules and regulations of the Supreme Council, with the approval of the board of directors, or its duly authorized representatives may upon being duly obligated, become members of this fraternity and may be constituted a subordinate council.The members of all councils will be know and designated in the ritual of the order as companions.”

In November, 1901, one John Collins, a duly authorized deputy of the Loyal Mystic Legion of America, solicited applications for membership in that order and to form a subordinate council at Ft. Collins, Colo.He solicited and received the application of Charles C. Richardson, and this application, with others, was forwarded to the Supreme Council at Hastings, Neb.The application was accepted and a certificate of membership issued by the Supreme Council and returned to Collins.The beneficiary named in the certificate was Emma A. Richardson, mother of the applicant.November 20, 1901, was fixed as the date to organize the subordinate council at Ft. Collins; but for some reason no organization was perfected until December 30, 1901, at which time the applicants who had been passed by the Supreme Council and who were present were obligated and initiated by Collins, the deputy, the officers of the subordinate council elected, and the council duly organized.Collins at that time turned over to the worthy councilor the certificates of all applicants, and the worthy councilor and worthy secretary filled up and signed the blank certificate of membership printed on each of the certificates; Richardson's being in the following language: “Companion Charles C. Richardson became a member of Ft. Collins Council, No. 208, Loyal Mystic Legion of America, of Ft. Collins, state of Colorado, on the 30th day of December, 1901.Benjamin F. Evans, Worthy Councilor.Attest: Clyde H. Brown, Worthy Secretary.”Prior to this meeting Richardson commenced work at a mill some 50 miles from Ft. Collins, was not present at the meeting, was not initiated as a member, and not obligated, unless, as claimed by defendant in error, the signing of his application, which, we understand, contained the form of obligation administered to all members on their initiation, constituted the taking of such obligation.Richardson was accidentally killed on January 3, 1902, and Emma A. Richardson, the beneficiary named in his certificate, brought this action to recover from the plaintiff in error $1,000, the amount of said certificate, alleging that the deceased was a member of Ft. Collins Council, No. 208, at the time of his death and that each and every condition precedent on the part of the deceased and of the beneficiary had been complied with, as provided in the...