Sovereign Camp Woodmen of World v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 01 April 1918
• Docket Number: 264
• Citation: 202 S.W. 698,133 Ark. 411
• Parties: SOVEREIGN CAMP WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. ANDERSON
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

202 S.W. 698

133 Ark. 411

SOVEREIGN CAMP WOODMEN OF THE WORLD v. ANDERSON

No. 264

Supreme Court of Arkansas

April 1, 1918

Appeal from Drew Circuit Court; Turner Butler, Judge; reversed.

Judgment reversed and cause dismissed.

Rhoton & Helm, for appellant.

1. The clerk of the local camp had no authority to waive the laws of the society. Anderson could not be reinstated without filing the statement and warranty that he was in good health, nor at a time when he was sick with pulmonary tuberculosis. The society had no knowledge of the payment of assessments or attempt to reinstate until after his death. The payments made were promptly returned. The society was not estopped. 81 Ark 512; 80 Id. 419; 104 Id. 538.

2. There was no waiver. The officers had no authority to waive. 104 Ark. 538; 125 Id. 119; 185 S.W. 786.

3. A member must know the laws of his order and the powers of lodge officers. 104 Ark. 538.

Henry & Harris and Robert C. Knox, for appellee.

1. The knowledge of an agent acting within the scope of his agency is such knowledge as will bind the society. 129 Ark. 450; 130 Id. 128. The act of Carroll, the local clerk, in accepting the dues of deceased with full knowledge of all facts estops the society. This case falls squarely within 111 Ark. 435 and is governed by it.

2. Forfeitures are not favored. 113 Ark. 174; 94 Id. 417.

The cases cited by appellant do not apply here.

OPINION

SMITH, J.

There appear to be no disputed questions of fact in this case, and if any controversy existed, it has been resolved in favor of appellee by the court, which sat as a jury, and, upon the finding made, rendered judgment against appellant. These facts are as follows: Ralfe A. Anderson, Jr., held a beneficiary certificate in the appellant order for $ 1,000, payable to his mother. His dues or assessments were payable monthly. He failed to pay the dues for the month of May and was automatically suspended as a member on June 1 1916. A. W. Carroll was the clerk of the local camp of which the insured was a member and in his regular monthly report to John T. Yates, who was the supreme clerk of the defendant order, on June 15, 1916, an official report of this suspension was made. So far as the Sovereign Camp was informed or advised, no further action was taken in regard to this certificate until February, 1917, at which time the Sovereign Clerk received from Carroll a letter containing the dues or assessments from and including the month of forfeiture to the time of the insured's death. The letter from Carroll also contained notification of the insured's death. This remittance was promptly returned, upon the ground that the insured was not a member of the order at the time of his death. Suit was brought to enforce the payment of the sum named in the beneficiary certificate, and at the trial, Carroll testified that the father of Ralfe Anderson applied to him on the 19th day of August, 1916, to have the suspended member reinstated and at that time he paid to him all of the delinquent assessments. The father requested Carroll to notify him of the amount of any subsequent assessments and the time when the same would become due, and Carroll did this, and the insured's father promptly paid to Carroll the subsequent dues. None of these dues, however, were remitted to the company until two months after the insured's death. It was shown and not denied that at the time the policy lapsed the insured had consumption, and that he died from that disease on December 2, 1916.

The beneficiary certificate expressly made the application for the certificate and the constitution and by-laws of the order a part of the contract of insurance. Section 109 (a) of the constitution and by-laws provide for the payment of one annual assessment, or the payment of this assessment in monthly installments, and the payments were to be made to the clerk of the local camp of which any insured was a member. Paragraph (b) of Section 109 of the constitution and by-laws provides that "if he fails to make any such payment on or before the first day of the month following, he shall stand suspended and during such suspension his beneficiary certificate shall be void." Other material sections of the constitution and laws of the society read as follows:

"I. Section 115 (b): 'After the expiration of ten days and within three months from date of suspension of a suspended member, to reinstate he must pay to the clerk of his Camp all arrearages and dues and deliver to him a written statement and warranty signed by himself and witnessed, that he is in good health and not addicted to the excessive use of intoxicants or narcotics as a condition precedent to reinstatement, and waiving all rights hereto if such written statement and warranty be untrue."

"II. Section 115 (c): 'Any attempted reinstatement shall not be effective for that purpose unless the member be in fact in good health at the time, and if any of the representations or statements made by said applicant are untrue, then said payments shall not cause his reinstatement nor operate as a waiver of the above condition."

"Section 118 (a): 'No suspended member shall be reinstated whose health is at the time impaired."

No attempt was made to show that any certificate or written statement was furnished to the clerk of the local Camp that the insured was in good health at the time of the attempted reinstatement, and it is conceded that no such statement could have been made, because if would have been palpably false. Indeed, Carroll, the clerk of the local camp,...