Osceola Tribe, No. 11, Independent Order of Red Men v. Schmidt

• Decision Date: 30 June 1881
• Parties: THE OSCEOLA TRIBE, NO. 11, INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RED MEN v. CAROLINE SCHMIDT, Administratrix of AUGUST SCHMIDT.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

57 Md. 98

THE OSCEOLA TRIBE, NO. 11, INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RED MEN v. CAROLINE SCHMIDT, Administratrix of AUGUST SCHMIDT.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 30, 1881

APPEAL from the Baltimore City Court.

The case is stated in the opinion of the Court. The third fourth, fifth, and sixth pleas of the appellant referred to in the opinion are as follows:

And for a third plea: That said plaintiff, before the institution of this suit, to wit: on the first day of August, in the year 1877, in accordance with the constitution and by-laws of said defendant, appealed from the refusal of the defendant to pay to him said weekly sum of $3 during his sickness, in said declaration mentioned, to the Grand Tribe of Maryland, and the said Grand Tribe of Maryland sustained the defendant in its refusal to pay said weekly sum of $3.00 during said plaintiff's sickness in said declaration mentioned, and said plaintiff, in accordance with the constitution and by-laws of said defendant, appealed from the decision of said Grand Tribe of Maryland, to the Grand Tribe of the United States, and the said Grand Tribe of the United States affirmed the decision of the said Grand Tribe of Maryland and sustained the defendant in its refusal to pay said weekly sum of $3.00 during said plaintiff's sickness, set forth in said declaration.

And for a fourth plea: That the said plaintiff, before the institution of this suit, to wit: on the first day of August in the year 1876, in consideration of becoming a member of said corporation, promised to abide by the constitution and by-laws of the same, and all acts done in accordance therewith, and that the refusal to pay the plaintiff the weekly sum of $3.00 during his sickness, as set forth in said declaration, was in accordance with the constitution and by-laws of said defendant.

And for a fifth plea: That the plaintiff before the institution of this suit, to wit: on the first day of August, 1876, in consideration of becoming a member of the defendant, promised to abide by the constitution and by-laws of the Grand Tribe of Maryland, and all acts done in pursuance thereof, and that the said Grand Tribe of Maryland, in pursuance of its constitution and by-laws, passed an act sustaining the defendant in its refusal to pay the plaintiff the weekly sum of $3.00 during his sickness in said declararion mentioned.

And for a sixth plea: That the plaintiff heretofore, to wit: on the first day of August, 1876, in consideration of becoming a member of the defendant, promised to abide by the constitution and by-laws of the Grand Tribe of the United States, and all acts done in pursuance thereof, and that the said Grand Tribe of the United States, heretofore, to wit: on the thirtieth day of September, 1877, and before the institution of this suit, in pursuance of its constitution and by-laws, passed an act sustaining the defendant in its refusal to pay to the plaintiff the weekly sum of $3.00 during his sickness in said declaration mentioned.

Exceptions.--At the trial, the plaintiff offered the following prayer:

If the jury shall find that the plaintiff's testator was a member of the defendant-corporation on August 11th, 1876 that the constitution and by-laws of the defendant were, as has been read in evidence; that the said testator had received, as such member, $3.50 per week as sick dues for more than eighty weeks, and that he then was so disabled by sickness as to be unable to attend to his daily occupations, and so remained from the said date to the institution of this suit, and that the defendant corporation had full notice, by its officers and agents, of his said disability, and its continuance, and that it failed to pay him any sum or sums of money whatever during all the time aforesaid, although payment thereof was demanded by him, then under the pleadings and evidence, they must find for the plaintiff in the sum of $3.50 for each week of the said period, with interest in their discretion, notwithstanding the alleged proceedings of the Grand Tribes of Maryland and the United States, offered in evidence.

The defendant offered seven prayers, which accord in their statement of the law with the decision of this Court; they need not be stated.

The Court, (GAREY, J.) granted the prayer of the plaintiff and rejected all the prayers of the defendant. The defendant excepted; and the verdict and judgment for $227.06 and costs being for the plaintiff, the defendant appealed.

The cause was argued before BARTOL, C.J., GRASON, ALVEY, ROBINSON and MAGRUDER, J.

Louis Hennighausen and Wm. Shepard Bryan, for the appellant.

The defences made by the pleas, and under the prayers, are shown to be complete and effective by the case of the Anacosta Tribe, 13 Md., 91. The eleventh plea was a good plea in bar, inasmuch as it showed that the plaintiff could not maintain any action at any time in respect of the matters stated in the declaration. 1 Chitty's Pleading, 434 m. p. There was no reason for striking it out.

The demurrers were erroneously sustained by the Court. But there was another error in the Court's ruling. The declaration is bad in substance, and the Court ought to have given judgment against the party who committed the first error in pleading. Chitty on Pleading, 647.

The declaration does not set forth any consideration, or any promise by the defendant to pay the plaintiff anything; or any agreement with him of any kind. It states that he is entitled to receive during his sickness the weekly sum of three dollars, and that the plaintiff has been sick a long time. It does not state from whom he is entitled to receive it; nor what consideration entitles him to receive it; nor how long he has been sick; nor does it furnish any data, from which the amount claimed may be estimated. The declaration is bad for uncertainty, as well as for a failure to state any consideration. Chitty's Pleading, 261.

The plaintiff's prayer required the jury to disregard entirely the proceedings of the Grand Tribes. They could not consider them for any purpose, and could not draw inferences from them. There was also another fatal error in the prayer. The jury are required, on the finding of certain facts, to find under the pleadings and evidence a verdict for three dollars and fifty cents for each week of plaintiff's sickness. By the declaration, he claimed only three dollars a week. The verdict was for the larger amount.

Charles J. Bonaparte, for the appellee.

The question at issue in this cause is simply: Was the appellant justified under its by-laws in withholding the appellee's benefits as a means of compelling him to go to an infirmary? It was indisputable and undisputed, that this question would be rightly answered in the negative, since a production of the appellant's constitution, &c., confirmed what was stated in the report set forth in the record, i. e., that "there is no provision in its by-laws which says that a brother can be compelled, by a resolution of the Tribe, to go to a hospital."

Nor did the action taken by either of the Grand Tribes in any wise question the correctness of this position, for the Grand Tribe of Maryland, merely ""adopted" the report of its committee on complaints, and the Grand Tribe of the United States only "sustained and...