Swett v. Citizens' Mut. Relief Soc.

• Decision Date: 31 December 1886
• Citation: 78 Me. 541,7 A. 394
• Parties: SWETT v. CITIZENS' MUT. RELIEF SOC.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

7 A. 394

78 Me. 541

SWETT

v. CITIZENS' MUT. RELIEF SOC.¹

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

December 31, 1886.

On report from Cumberland county. The opinion states the facts.

M. P. Frank, for plaintiff.

Byron D. Verrill, for defendant.

LIBBEY, J. The defendant corporation is similar to the one involved in Bolton v. Bolton, 73 Me. 299, in which this court, after a careful consideration of the question, held that such corporations are mutual life insurance companies. In 1875 certain men formed a voluntary association, under the name of the Citizens' Mutual Relief Society of Portland, having for its object the payment of a stipulated sum on the death of a member, as relief, to any person designated by him in writing, or to his widow, children, or relatives, in the order specified in the artichs of association. The requisite qualifications for membership were as follows: "Any male resident of the city of Portland, and any business man resident in Cape Elizabeth, Deering, Westbrook, Scarborough, Gorham, or Windham, having a regular and established place of business in Portland, if 21, and not over 60, years of age, may become a member upon a two-thirds vote of those members of the society present when the election is held, and payment of the admission fee as follows." An applicant for admission was required to make application in writing, stating, among other things, his age. On the fifteenth of June, 1876, the plaintiff's husband, W. H. Swett, made his application to be admitted as a member, stating therein that he was born in 1817, and his age was 59 years. On this application, by the requisite vote of the members of the society, he was admitted a member, and acted as such, paying his dues till May, 1877, when the associates were incorporated by the same name, and organized the defendant corporation. By a by-law of the corporation the qualification of membership as to age was "twenty-one, and not over fifty-five, years of age." By a vote of the corporation, passed when it was organized, all members of the voluntary association were made associate members of the corporation without a new application. Swett continued to pay his dues as a member of the society till his death, May 29, 1883.

By the terms of the insurance, the plaintiff, as his widow, if she can maintain her action, is entitled to $1,030. It is proved that the plaintiff's husband, when he made his application for admission to the voluntary association, in 1876, was 64 years of age, and not 59, as he stated in his application, and, upon proof of his death, the directors, for that cause, rejected the plaintiff's claim, and, in August following, the corporation affirmed the action of its directors. The age of the applicant was a material fact. If more than 60 he could not become a member. His representations of the fact was a warranty of its truth, and, if not true, the contract was invalid. This rule is so...