Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World v. Hicks

• Decision Date: 14 December 1904
• Citation: 84 S.W. 425
• Parties: SOVEREIGN CAMP WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. HICKS.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

84 S.W. 425

SOVEREIGN CAMP WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. HICKS.^*

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

December 14, 1904.

Appeal from District Court, Guadalupe County; M. Kennon, Judge.

Action by Emma Hicks against the Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World. Judgment in favor of plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and rendered.

Onion & Henry, for appellant. Dibrell & Mosheim and Adolph Seideman, for appellee.

FLY, J.

This is a suit instituted by appellee to recover of appellant the sum of $1,000, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent. from July 23, 1901, alleged to be due on a policy of insurance on the life of Fred Hicks, the husband of appellee, who was killed in a railroad wreck on April 23, 1901. The cause was tried by jury, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for appellee in the sum of $1,000 with 6 per cent. interest from July 23, 1901, less the sum of $2.60, the amount of unpaid premiums.

Appellant is a benefit society or order engaged in furnishing life insurance to its members. It has subordinate bodies, known as "Camps," scattered about the country, with officers, and rules and by-laws for their government. Assessments are made by certain officers of appellant, whose headquarters are at Omaha, Neb. Under the rules and regulations of the order the assessments are paid to the clerk of the subordinate camps. Fred Hicks was a member of Mistletoe Camp, located at Marion, Tex. He did not reside at Marion, but for a number of years had paid his assessments through his brother, John Hicks. All assessments were paid by him up to January 1, 1901. Under the rules of the order a member has the whole month in which to pay the assessment for that month. There were legal assessments made for January, February, and March, 1901, and deceased was duly notified. The certificate was payable on the death of Fred Hicks to Emma Hicks, his wife. He was killed in a railroad wreck on April 23, 1901.

It is provided in the constitution, and the provision is copied into and made a part of the certificate issued to Fred Hicks, that: "If the admission fees, dues or beneficiary fund assessments levied against the person named in this certificate shall not be paid to the clerk of his camp as required by the constitution and laws of the order, this certificate shall be null and void and continue so until payment is made in accordance therewith." The language quoted is a part of the contract of insurance between the parties, and the clear intention of it was to provide for a forfeiture of the policy in case of a failure to pay the fees, dues and beneficiary fund assessments provided in the constitution and laws of the order, without any action upon the part of the order. It follows that a failure to pay either of the debts described to the clerk of the camp of which Fred Hicks was a member within the time prescribed by the constitution and laws of the order worked a forfeiture, unless payment was prevented by some act or omission on the part of the order or its officers. Cohen v. Ins. Co., 67 Tex. 325, 3 S. W. 296, 60 Am. Rep. 24; Laughlin v. Life Association, 8 Tex. Civ. App. 448, 28 S. W. 411; Ins. Co. v. LePert, 52 Tex. 504. About the middle of January, 1901, the agent of Fred Hicks sought the clerk of the local camp at Marion in order to pay the assessment for that month, and ascertained that he was absent, not even his wife knowing his whereabouts. He was absent until about February 15th, when the agent again attempted to pay the assessment, and was informed by the clerk that he was no longer the clerk, and that the camp had disbanded. Appellant had prescribed the person to whom the payment of assessments should be made, and under its law there was no one else to whom the assessments could be paid. The failure to have a clerk in Marion to whom the assessments could be paid could not be charged to deceased. All the duty devolved upon him was the payment to the clerk. No provision is made in the constitution and by-laws of appellant to meet such an emergency as the death or absence of the clerk of the local camp. It follows that deceased was not suspended by a failure to pay the January assessment.

During the month of January 12 of the members of the local camp at Marion were transferred to New Berlin camp, leaving only seven members belonging to Mistletoe Camp, Fred Hicks being one of them. Those seven did not pay the January assessment, and on February 1st were recorded suspended by the sovereign clerk. The suspension necessarily dissolved the camp on February 1, 1901. It may be presumed that six of the members were in fact legally suspended, as there is nothing to indicate that either of them endeavored to pay the assessment, or would have paid it if a clerk had been present to receive it. Deceased, having used all diligence required of him to pay his dues, was a member in good standing at the time of the dissolution of the camp. The dissolution of the camp, however, devolved other duties upon members in good standing if they desired to remain in such condition. The certificate was issued and accepted, as recited therein, subject to the constitution and laws of the fraternity, and it was expressly agreed that it should be forfeited if the member did not comply with the constitution and laws and such by-laws as were in force or should thereafter be enacted. They thereby became a part of the contract, and as such bind the members of the order to whom the certificates are issued. In the case of West v. Grand Lodge, A. O. U. W. (Tex. Civ. App.) 37 S. W. 966, this subject was fully discussed, and the authorities collated. The status of Fred Hicks, and the duties devolving upon him after the dissolution of his local camp, must be ascertained by recourse to the constitution and laws of the order.

In section 106 of the constitution of the order it is provided: "Whenever a suspended camp fails to reinstate, as heretofore provided, within thirty days from the date of its suspension, no benefits shall be paid upon on the death of any member of such camp, which occurs after the expiration of said thirty days, unless the deceased member shall have paid all...