Stewart v. Grand Lodge Ancient Order of United Workmen

• Decision Date: 22 January 1898
• Citation: 46 S.W. 579,100 Tenn. 267
• Parties: STEWART v. GRAND LODGE ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

46 S.W. 579

100 Tenn. 267

STEWART v. GRAND LODGE ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

January 22, 1898

Appeal from chancery court, Davidson county; H. H. Cook, Chancellor.

Suit by Katie Stewart against the Grand Lodge Ancient Order of United Workmen. There was a decree for complainant, which was affirmed by the court of chancery appeals, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Nolen & Slemons, for appellant.

T. A Street and Chambers & Zarecor, for appellee.

BEARD J.

This suit was brought to recover on a certificate issued by the defendant order to W. H. Stewart, of which complainant was the beneficiary. Stewart died eight years before the institution of the suit, during which period complainant was a minor. There was a decree in favor of complainant rendered by the chancellor, which was affirmed by the court of chancery appeals.

On this appeal from the decree of this latter court, the error principally relied upon is that it rests upon a theory necessarily inconsistent with certain admissions of the bill of complainant, which will be hereafter particularly noticed. The bill alleges that the father of complainant, Katie, was a member of Hermitage Lodge, one of the surbordinate lodges of the defendant order, in good standing at the date of his death, on the 29th of December, 1888, and that he was the holder of a certificate theretofore issued to him as such member, under its rules, by the order, of which the complainant was the named beneficiary, entitling her to receive from the order the sum of $2,000, and that this sum had not been paid to her. The bill was answered by the defendant order, and in this answer it was admitted that W H. Stewart was at one time a member of Hermitage Lodge, and that, as such, a certificate was issued to him of which complainant was the beneficiary, but it was denied that he was a member at the date of his death. On the contrary, it is averred that on the 28th of October, 1888, about 60 days before his death, he became suspended for nonpayment of assessments, and was not thereafter reinstated. On these pleadings and the evidence adduced the decrees of the respective courts below were rested.

It is apparent that, upon the issues as thus presented, it being admitted that Stewart was a member in good standing up to a point only 60 days before his death, and as such the holder of the certificate sued on of which complainant was named as beneficiary, in order to defeat a recovery in this action the burden was imposed on defendant of making good its averment that he had forfeited his membership, so that this certificate in favor of complainant was inoperative; and so the court of chancery appeals held. That court in its opinion set out, in totidem verbis, the rules of the order with regard to the making of assessments, and as to the effect of nonpayment by a member of an assessment charged against him. Without embodying here these rules literally, it is sufficient to say they provide that, whenever the beneficiary fund of the grand lodge treasury is reduced below $2,000, or where, by delays, etc., this fund, by the payment of death claims, will drop below that figure, then it becomes the duty of the grand recorder to call upon the subordinate lodges to forward the beneficiary fund in their respective treasuries and at the time of making such call to make one assessment of one dollar upon each member of the order who became such previous to the date of the death upon which the assessment is made. Every call made on the surbordinate lodges shall be dated on the 1st day of the month; shall contain a list of all deaths occurring since the last call was made; and shall, in every case, receive the approval of the grand lodge finance committee; and a compliance with these conditions "constitutes the making of an assessment." These rules also provide that notice of such assessment is to be given, personally or by mail, to each member by the 8th of the month, and, in the event of nonpayment of such assessment by the 28th, the member is ipso facto suspended from all rights and benefits in the order, and can only be reinstated by complying with certain requisitions, which need not, in the condition of this record, be set out.

It is true that the court of chancery appeals finds as a fact that the financier of Hermitage Lodge, in November, 1888, mailed a notice to Mr. Stewart informing him that he was suspended from membership in his lodge, but it...