Modlin v. Sovereign Camp, W. O. W.

• Decision Date: 09 October 1935
• Docket Number: 118.
• Citation: 181 S.E. 559,208 N.C. 576
• Parties: MODLIN v. SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

181 S.E. 559

208 N.C. 576

MODLIN v. SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W.

No. 118.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

October 9, 1935

Appeal from Superior Court, Martin County; Parker, Judge.

Action by William H. Modlin against the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World. From a judgment of nonsuit, plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Insured failing to furnish satisfactory proof of disability until more than six months after avoiding of his beneficiary certificate and termination of his contract for nonpayment of dues or assessments, held not entitled to total and permanent disability benefits, though disability occurred when certificate was in force, where amended by-laws required proof of disability to be furnished while certificate was in force.

Elbert S. Peel, of Williamston, for appellant.

Albion Dunn, of Greenville, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This was an action instituted by the plaintiff to recover total and permanent disability benefits under a beneficiary certificate issued to him by the defendant fraternal and insurance association on February 24, 1922. The pleadings testimony, documentary evidence, and admissions establish that the plaintiff paid all dues and assessments required of him up to and including February, 1933, and has paid no dues or assessments since that time; that the plaintiff became permanently and totally disabled within the meaning of his certificate in November, 1932; that on October 2, 1933, the plaintiff for the first time gave notice of, and offered to furnish satisfactory proof of, his disability, and made application for the permanent total disability benefit provided in his certificate.

Both the original application for insurance and the beneficiary certificate of the plaintiff state that "all the provisions of the Constitution and Laws of the Society now in force and that may hereafter be adopted shall constitute the basis for and form a part of any beneficiary certificate that may be issued to me by the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World * * *."

Sections 63-A and 63-B of the constitution and by-laws of the defendant company provide that every member shall pay certain annual assessments or monthly installments of assessments for the Sovereign Camp fund and such camp dues as may be required by the by-laws of his camp, and that upon failure by any member to make any such payments on or before the last day of the month he shall become suspended and his...