Murray v. Supreme Hive L. M. of W.

• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Wilkes
• Citation: Murray v. Supreme Hive L. M. of W., 80 S.W. 827 (Tenn. 1904)
• Decision Date: 10 May 1904
• Parties: MURRAY v. SUPREME HIVE LADIES OF MACCABEES OF THE WORLD.

Page 827

80 S.W. 827

MURRAY v. SUPREME HIVE LADIES OF MACCABEES OF THE WORLD.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

May 10, 1904.

Appeal from Chancery Court, Shelby County; F. H. Heiskell, Chancellor.

Suit by Mary Murray against the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the

World. From an adverse decree, complainant appeals. Affirmed.

Randolph & Randolph, for appellant. F. Zimmermann, for appellee.

WILKES, J.

This is an application on the part of complainant to be restored and reinstated in her position and in all her rights as a member of the defendant order, in which she holds an endowment certificate, which is made a part of her bill, and she asks that she be restored to all the rights to which she is entitled under said certificate. Defendant company defends upon the ground that, although she was once a member in good standing in said order, she has been expelled therefrom. The defendant claims that this action was taken in strict conformity with the bylaws, rules, and regulations in force at the time complainant became a member thereof, and the ground for said expulsion is that complainant obtained her membership by false representations as to her age.

The complainant made application for membership on the 21st day of April, 1893, and in her application stated as follows: "My name in full is Mary Murray; I was born in the county of Longford, state of Ireland, on the 27th day of August, 1841, and am now 51 years old."

The application contains this clause: "I hereby declare that the above are fair and true answers to the foregoing questions: and I hereby agree that these statements, with this application, and the laws now in force, or that may hereafter be adopted * * * shall form the basis of the contract for endowment; that any untrue or fraudulent answers and suppressions of fact in regard to my health, age * * * personal or family history, shall vitiate my beneficiary certificate, and forfeit all payments made thereon."

Under the laws of the order as then existing, it is provided as follows: "All white females of good moral character, who have reached their sixteenth birthday and have not passed their fifty-sixth birthday, shall be entitled to admission as endowment members."

Her certificate recites that she has been regularly initiated a member of Chelsea Hive, No. 3, located at Memphis, Tenn., and in case all the agreements and warranties made by her in her application are found to be true, and she continues to comply with the laws, rules, and regulations of the Supreme Hive L. O. T. M. of the World, which are now or may hereafter be in force, her beneficiaries, naming them, will be entitled to receive one assessment on the membership, not to exceed $2,000, upon satisfactory proof of the death of said member.

She continued to be a member until May, 1901. In 1900 the order became alarmed at the large death rate in the territory about Memphis, and required each member to fill out a new statement in writing regarding her age and other matters; the purpose being to determine whether a mistake had been made in the original statements, and, if so, to have them corrected.

Mrs. Murray in her own handwriting filled out one of these statements and signed the same, in which she stated that she was born August 27, 1842. In this document she gave the birth of her four children as being in 1867, 1868, 1870, and 1871.

In her deposition afterwards she stated that her first child was born in 1863, the second two or three years thereafter, the third less than two years after the second, and the fourth less than three years after the third.

Upon receiving this statement, the order, assuming that she did not know her age or had misstated it, ordered a personal investigation as to her case. This was authorized by the laws of the association, which provide that, if in case of an endowment member it shall at any time appear that false answers have been made to any of the questions propounded in the application, the person so answering may be proceeded against, and, upon conviction, may be expelled from all the rights, privileges, and benefits of the order.

A member of the Memphis bar in April, 1901, by order of the association, attempted to get an interview with Mrs. Murray in regard to this matter, but did not succeed. He, however, met her daughter, Mrs. Ryan, who was the beneficiary in the certificate, and stated his business to her. In May he made another attempt to interview Mrs. Murray, and again met Mrs. Ryan, who stated that she and her husband, Mr. Ryan, and her mother, Mrs. Murray, had consulted about the matter, and decided that Mrs. Murray would make no statement to the order, and would not be interviewed by any agent of the order. This action was reported to the supreme hive, together with information that Mrs. Murray had probably misstated her age, and was beyond the age limit at the date of her application. Thereupon the board of trustees of the order sent a registered letter to Mrs. Mary Murray, Memphis, Tenn., on May 27, 1901.

This letter was as follows:

        "Port Huron, Mich. May 27-1901
                

"Mary Murray, Memphis, Tenn.: Dear Sister — At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, held in the Maccabee Temple in the city of Port Huron, State of Michigan, on the 9th day of May, 1901, the charges of Dr. M. Danforth, supreme medical examiner, were laid before the board, wherein she charges Mary Murray, of Stella Hive No. 1, of Memphis, Tenn., with having obtained her membership by false representation as to her age. After duly considering said charges, the following resolution was adopted:

"`Resolved, That Mary Murray be suspended from all the rights and benefits of the order and that she be served with a copy of the charges and specifications filed in this case, and that she may have until Thursday, the 25th of June, 1901, at the hour of 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at the Maccabee Temple, in the City of Port Huron, State of Michigan, (that being the time and place to which a hearing has been set in this case), in which to satisfy the board of the falsity of the charges made against her.

"`Resolved further, That Mary Murray be instructed that she can appear either in person or by attorney, or make such showing by affidavit as she deems expedient at the said time and place.

"`Resolved further, That Mary Murray be notified that this action is taken under the provisions of Section 61 of the laws of the Supreme Hive, Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, as amended July, 1899, and that she may govern herself as provided in that Section.'

             "Fraternally yours
                  "[Signed]           Bina M. West
                  "[Seal.]      Supreme Record Keeper
                

"This is to certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the action of the board of trustees of the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, so far as relates to the matter herein mentioned.

  "[Signed]            Bina M. West,
                                 "Supreme Record Keeper.
                

"Attest: Lillian M. Hollister, Supreme Commander."

Inclosed with this letter was the following document:

"State of Michigan, County of St. Clair — ss.:

"Dr. M. M. Danforth, being first duly sworn, deposes and says that she is a member in good standing of the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, and is its supreme medical examiner; that she files these charges against Mary Murray, of Stella Hive, No. 1, Memphis, Tenn., under oath, and charges the said Mary Murray with having fraudulently obtained her membership by misstating her age in her application for membership, in that in her application for membership she stated her age to be, at last birthday, fifty-one years, when in truth and in fact she was considerably

older.               Dr. M. M. Danforth.
                

"Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 9th day of May, A. D. 1901.

     "Leila E. Langford, Notary Public,
                  "[Seal.]       St. Clair County, Mich."
                

The laws of the order further provide: "That all notices or papers * * * to be given to the members or hives shall be served by delivering such notice or paper to the person or hive intended personally, or by depositing the same in the post office, properly directed to such member or hive at her or its place of residence."

Section 61, to which reference is made above, is as follows:

"The board of trustees shall have power to suspend a life benefit member from all benefits of the order whenever a complaint is made, duly verified by * * * the supreme medical examiner, that such member has obtained her membership by false representation as to her age. * * * Such suspension shall be binding on the member without a formal trial until the member has, by evidence, satisfied the board of trustees that such complaint has no foundation, which she must do within thirty days from the date of notice mailed her by the supreme record keeper of the filing of such complaint. The findings and decisions of the board of trustees in all such cases shall be final. The board of trustees may re-instate a member so suspended, if at any time thereafter it may appear to the board that the cause of such suspension has been removed."

See Laws 1899, § 61.

These laws were in existence at the time Mrs. Murray made her application for membership.

On the 5th of July, Mrs. Murray having made no appearance or defense, the following letter was sent to her:

      "Port Huron, Mich. July 5, 1901
                

"Mary Murray, Memphis, Tenn.: Dear Sister — At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, held in Maccabee Temple, in the city of Port Huron, State of Michigan, on the 25th day of June, 1901, the matter of the case of Mary Murray of Stella Hive, Memphis, Tenn., was presented, this being the time and place to which a hearing had been fixed, and the supreme record keeper produced the files, proofs and affidavits, and it still appearing to the board that the...