Pierson v. Gardner

• Decision Date: 14 March 1913
• Citation: 86 A. 442,81 N.J.Eq. 505
• Parties: PIERSON et al. v. GARDNER et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

86 A. 442

81 N.J.Eq. 505

PIERSON et al.

v. GARDNER et al.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

March 14, 1913.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Appeal from Court of Chancery.

Bill by Emma Gardner and others against Anna Pierson and others. From a decree for complainants, defendants appeal, and complainants file cross-appeals. Affirmed.

Ziegener & Lane, of Jersey City, for complainants.

Peter & John Bentley, of Jersey City, for defendants.

VREDENBURGH, J. This controversy concerns the distribution, under equitable principles, of certain moneys ($1,966) now in court, which are the accumulations of various entrance fees, subscriptions of members, fines, donations, and the like, paid into a common fund by the members of voluntary beneficial associations of this state, who are parties to the suit. The bill is filed by the complainants (Circle 5) in the names of 78 ladies, all of the county of Hudson, N. J., individually and collectively, associated as members of "Palisade Circle No. 5, Lady Foresters of America," against 42 other ladies, defendants, named in the bill, and associated as members of "Palisade Circle No. 193, Companions of the Forest of America." To avoid detail and for the sake of clearness, the additions to the names of these branch associations will be omitted. It will be sufficient to designate the complainants as Circle 5 and the defendants as Circle 193.

The bill charges, among other matters, that all of the said 120 named persons were on October 16, 1909, members of said Circle 193, and that on that day, at a meeting of the members of that association, regularly notified and convened, there occurred an important disagreement among them resulting in a change of the name of said Circle 193 to said Circle 5, and the formation and organization of the said Circle 5, the complainants in the suit; that on that occasion a resolution was formally passed to the effect that, as the members of said Circle 193 could not "procure justice nor equal rights from their parent body, called "the Supreme Circle," the said Circle 193 should not thereafter be affiliated with, or be a subordinate circle of, said Supreme Circle. It is the rival claims of these two, thus divided, subordinate groups, or circles of members, each one claiming to be the rightful circle (193) and entitled to the entire fund of $1,966, which lie at the foundation of the present litigation.

The bill proceeds to charge that Circle 193, on October 16, 1909, had on deposit in the Hudson Trust Company the said fund, and that it was the sole property of Circle 193 and belonged to the individual members thereof, and that, upon the changing of the name of Circle 193 to Circle 5, the said deposited money became the property of the complainants (Circle 5). It further charges that Circle 193 was never incorporated under any laws of the state of New Jersey, and had no authority to operate or transact business in this state; that it was only a voluntary organization, organized by the members thereof for their mutual protection, and which could at any time change its name or be dissolved by a vote of a majority of the members thereof, and that upon a dissolution the funds and property thereof became the property of the individual members, share and share alike; that this money upon a change of the name of the old organization into a new organization, became the property of the new organization and of the individual members thereof.

The prayer of the bill, so far as now material, was that the said 42 defendant members of Circle 193 might answer and an accounting be had between complainants and defendants; that a receiver might be appointed to take charge of said moneys and the defendants enjoined from drawing out or disposing of any of said moneys; and that a decree be made directing receiver to pay over to complainants said funds, or their proportionate share thereof, or their aggregate share, and for such further relief as...