Ryan v. Boston Ltr. Carriers' Mut. Benefit Assn.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1915
• Citation: 222 Mass. 237
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
• Parties: NELLIE F. RYAN v. BOSTON LETTER CARRIERS' MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION & another.

222 Mass. 237

NELLIE F. RYAN v. BOSTON LETTER CARRIERS' MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION & another.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

November 23, 1915

October 22, 1915.

Present: RUGG, C.

J., LORING, CROSBY PIERCE, & CARROLL, JJ.

Contract Antenuptial contract. Fraternal Beneficiary Corporation. Equity Jurisdiction, To enforce performance of antenuptial contract.

If a woman about to marry makes a valid contract with her prospective husband whereby in consideration of the coming marriage and of money lent to him he agrees to "take out" a death benefit certificate in a certain fraternal beneficiary corporation in which she shall be named as beneficiary, and after the marriage the husband causes such a certificate to be issued to him and afterwards changes the beneficiary substituting his sister for his wife without the wife's knowledge, and then dies, the wife cannot maintain a suit in equity against the corporation and the sister to compel the amount of the certificate to be paid to her if it does not appear that either the sister or the corporation knew of the antenuptial contract before the beginning of the suit.

BILL IN EQUITY, filed in the Superior Court on March 25, 1915, by the widow of John W. Ryan, to whom a death benefit certificate had been issued by the defendant fraternal beneficiary corporation, the Boston Letter Carriers' Mutual Benefit Association, in favor of the plaintiff in accordance with the alleged contract described in the opinion, the defendant Loretta M. Ryan afterwards having been substituted for the plaintiff as the beneficiary in the certificate. The prayer of the bill was that the amount of the certificate should be ordered to be paid to the plaintiff.

The defendants demurred. The demurrers were heard by Morton, J., and were sustained and a final decree was made dismissing the bill. The plaintiff appealed.

H. A. Kenny, P.

Daly & W. J. Day, for the plaintiff, submitted a brief.

J. E. Hanlon, for the defendant Boston Letter Carriers' Mutual Benefit Association.

R. E. Buffum, (F.

A. Crafts with him,) for the defendant Loretta M.

Ryan.

PIERCE, J. This is an appeal from a final decree sustaining the defendants' demurrers to the bill. The bill sets out that John W. Ryan died on January 31, 1915, a member in good standing of the defendant association in which his life was insured in the sum of $1,000. The original certificate was issued to him on March 13, 1911, and in accordance with his direction his wife, Nellie F. Ryan, to whom he had been married on February 4, 1911, was designated in the certificate as beneficiary. "Previous to such marriage she made a contract with said John W. Ryan, viz: that said John W. Ryan would take out said benefit certificate payable to [her] the complainant providing [she] said plaintiff would marry him also in return for money loaned and also that said complainant would take charge of his funeral in the event of his dying first and also pay his funeral expenses." Thereafter the wife (the plaintiff) duly furnished the consideration or considerations agreed upon.

On or about May 13 1912, Ryan, without the knowledge or consent of his wife, took out another certificate from the defendant association designating therein his sister, Loretta M. Ryan, as beneficiary in place of the plaintiff. On February 3, 1915, following her husband's death, the plaintiff first learned that Loretta M. Ryan was the person designated as...