Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World v. Jackson, 1,169.

• Decision Date: 09 October 1899
• Docket Number: 1,169.
• Citation: 97 F. 382
• Parties: SOVEREIGN CAMP OF THE WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. JACKSON.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

97 F. 382

SOVEREIGN CAMP OF THE WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. JACKSON.

No. 1,169.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

October 9, 1899

H. C Brome (A. H. Burnett, on the brief), for appellant.

C. C Nourse (C. L. Nourse, on the brief), for appellee.

Before CALDWELL, SANBORN, and THAYER, Circuit Judges.

SANBORN Circuit Judge.

May E Jackson, the beneficiary named in a certificate of membership issued by the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World to her husband, D. Fay Jackson, exhibited a bill in the court below to recover the amount payable to her upon the death of her husband, according to the terms of the certificate, and to compel the officers of the camp to levy the necessary assessment upon its members, and to collect and turn over to her the proceeds thereof in payment of the sum due under the certificate. The Sovereign Camp alleged that the certificate had become void by its terms before Jackson died, because he had failed to pay his dues and assessments, and because man months before his death he became addicted to the excessive use of opiates and intoxicating liquors to such an extent as to permanently impair his health and to cause his death. Evidence was taken and presented to the circuit court, which covers 180 printed pages of the record before us, and upon the final hearing the court rendered a decree for the relief sought by the bill. Before the case came to a hearing in this court a motion was made to dismiss the appeal because the assignment of errors was insufficient, and that motion and the argument upon the merits of the case were heard together. The motion to dismiss will first be considered. The following excerpts from the rules of this court disclose the ground of the motion:

Rule 11 (31 C.C.A. cxlvi., 90 F. cxlvi.):

'The plaintiff in error or appellant shall file with the clerk of the court below, with his petition for the writ of error or appeal, an assignment of errors, which shall set out separately and particularly each error asserted and intended to be urged. * * * When this is not done, counsel will not be heard, except at the request of the court; and errors not assigned according to this rule will be disregarded; but the court, at its option, may notice a plain error not assigned.'

Rule 24 (31 C.C.A. clxiv., 90 F. clxiv.)'

' * * * This brief (of counsel for the plaintiff in error or appellant) shall contain, in order here stated: * * * (2) A specification of the errors relied upon, which, in cases brought up by writ of error, shall set out separately and particularly each error asserted and intended to be urged; and in cases brought up by appeal the specification shall state, as particularly as may be, in what the decree is alleged to be erroneous. * * * (4) * * * and errors not specified according to this rule will be disregarded; but the court, at its option, may notice a plain error not assigned or specified.'

The 'specification of errors relied upon,' contained in the brief in this case, under rule 24, was a copy of the assignment of errors made under rule 11, and this was in these words 'Comes now the defendant (appellant), Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World, by Brome & Burnett, its attorneys, and shows that in the record of the proceedings of the above-entitled matter there is manifest error, in this, to wit: (1) The circuit court of the United States in and for the Southern district of Iowa, Central division, erred in finding and adjudging by its order herein made on the -- -- day of August, 1898, that the equities of this cause are with the complainant, and that she is entitled to have and recover of the defendant the sum of $2,600, with 6 per cent. interest thereon from and after the 4th day of February, 1897; (2) the said court erred in holding and adjudging that the proper officers of defendant are ordered and required to make the assessments for the members of the defendant necessary for the payment of said sum; (3) the court erred in holding and adjudging that the testimony in the said cause, and filed therein at the time of the hearing thereof, entitled plaintiff (appellee) to the relief sought; (4) the court erred in holding and adjudging that the testimony taken in the said cause, and filed therein at the time of the hearing thereof, did not entitle the defendant (appellant) to maintain its defense in said cause interposed; (5) the court erred in rendering and entering its decree herein against defendant (appellant), and for complainant (appellee), requiring defendant (appellant) to pay to complainant (appellee) the sum of $2,600, with 6 per cent. interest thereon from and after the 4th day of February, 1897. Wherefore the said Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World, defendant (appellant), prays that the order of said circuit court of the United States in and for the Southern district of Iowa be reversed and set aside, and for such...