Massey v. Rogers
| Decision Date | 25 April 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-2073,5-2073 |
| Parties | Eugene MASSEY, Trustee, Appellant, v. Neal ROGERS et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Kaneaster Hodges, Newport, for appellant.
Fred M. Pickens, Jr., Wayne Boyce, Claude M. Erwin, Judson N. Hout, and J. Vernon Ridley, Newport, for appellees.
This is a class suit brought by the appellant, as the trustee in bankruptcy for Leach-Rogers Funeral Home, Inc., to enforce what we may conveniently treat as three separate causes of action in favor of the bankrupt corporation. The question here is whether the trustee is entitled to maintain the suit as a class proceeding against ten named defendants as representatives of the Frank Leach Burial Association, an unincorporated association. The chancellor, hearing the matter upon the pleadings alone, sustained the appellees' motion to dismiss the complaint insofar as it attempts to state a representative cause of action against the appellees as members of the burial association. We shall discuss separately the three counts in the complaint.
I. The complaint asserts that the burial association was organized in 1937 as a mutual benefit association and has been operated through the years as an adjunct of the now bankrupt funeral home. It is alleged that in 1957 the burial association became indebted to the funeral home in the sum of $3,225 for merchandise and funeral services furnished by the funeral home as death benefits under certificates issued by the burial association. In seeking a money judgment for $3,225 the plaintiff asserts that it is impracticable to bring all 1,607 members of the association before the court and that the ten named members should be required to defend for the benefit of all. Ark.Stats.1947, § 27-809.
This count in the complaint asserts a cause of action that may properly be maintained as a class proceeding, and the chancellor erred in holding otherwise. An unincorporated association cannot be sued in its society name; so a representative proceeding is the usual and proper method of bringing suit against such an organization. Baskins v. United Mine Workers of America, 150 Ark. 398, 234 S.W. 464; Smith v. Ark. Motor Freight Lines, Inc., 214 Ark. 553, 217 S.W.2d 249. The judgment will determine the question of the association's liability and, if the plaintiff recovers, will entitle the plaintiff to proceed against the common property of the association.
II. The complaint next asserts that if the trustee in bankruptcy is unable to collect the $3,225 account from...
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Glenn v. Hoerner Boxes, Inc.
...right — a class too large to be brought into court by a service on the individuals composing the class." In Massey, Trustee, v. Rogers, 232 Ark. 110, 334 S.W.2d 664, (1960), the court at page 111 of 232 Ark., at page 665 of 334 S.W.2d "An unincorporated association cannot be sued in its soc......
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In re Recommendations the Comm. On Civil Practice
...Arkansas follows the common-law rule that an unincorporated association cannot be sued in its own name. See, e.g., Massey v. Rogers, 232 Ark. 110, 334 S.W.2d 664 (1960). However, members of the association can be sued as a class by naming representative parties as defendants. This practice ......
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In re Recommendations the Comm. On Civil Practice
...Arkansas follows the common-law rule that an unincorporated association cannot be sued in its own name. See, e.g., Massey v. Rogers, 232 Ark. 110, 334 S.W.2d 664 (1960). However, members of the association can be sued as a class by naming representative parties as defendants. This practice ......
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Creekmore v. Izard
...a person is entitled to sue as a member of a class or to sue representative members of a class as a whole. See Massey, Trustee v. Rogers, 232 Ark. 110, 334 S.W.2d 664. From what has been said it follows that the decree is reversed as to appellant Sewell and affirmed with respect to appellan......