The Knights of The MacCabees of The World v. Nelson

• Citation: 95 P. 1052,77 Kan. 629
• Decision Date: 11 April 1908
• Docket Number: 15,459
• Parties: THE KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES OF THE WORLD v. ANNA NELSON
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Kansas

95 P. 1052

77 Kan. 629

THE KNIGHTS OF THE MACCABEES OF THE WORLD v. ANNA NELSON

No. 15,459

Supreme Court of Kansas

April 11, 1908

Decided January, 1908.

Error from Atchison district court; BENJAMIN F. HUDSON, judge.

STATEMENT.

PLAINTIFF in error is a fraternal-insurance association. In 1892 Andrew Nelson, the deceased husband of the defendant in error, was admitted to membership in the association and received a certificate or policy of insurance, by the terms of which the association agreed to pay, upon certain conditions, the amount of one assessment, not exceeding $ 2000, to his beneficiary at his death. The defendant in error was named as his beneficiary. Nelson died November 17, 1905, and proof of his death was duly made, as was also a demand for payment of the indemnity of $ 2000, by the beneficiary.

The association claimed that Nelson died by his own hand; that under the provision of the by-laws in force at the time of his death his beneficiary was entitled to only twice the amount paid as dues by Nelson during his lifetime, which sum was $ 768. A compromise was effected and the association paid Mrs. Nelson $ 1000. Thereafter she brought suit against the association for the additional $ 1000, claiming that the compromise had been procured by fraud, which the defendant denied. A trial was had upon the issues substantially according to the facts as set forth, Mrs. Nelson recovered the full amount she claimed, and the association brings the case here for review.

Judgment reversed and case remanded.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

FRATERNAL INSURANCE--By-laws and Subsequent Amendments Made Part of the Contract--Reasonable Amendment. In the written application for membership to an insurance association was the following: "This application and the laws of the supreme tent now in force, or that may hereafter be adopted are made a part of the contract between myself and the supreme tent, and I, for myself and my beneficiary or beneficiaries, agree to conform to and be governed thereby." In the certificate issued to him, in which the association undertook to pay a certain amount to his beneficiary upon his death, occurred the following: "Provided he shall have in every particular complied with the laws, rules and regulations of the order governing members and their beneficiaries which are now in force, or may hereafter be adopted by the supreme tent, or the subordinate tent to which he belongs." A by-law of the association in force at the time of the issuance of the certificate contained the following: "But no benefit shall be payable on account of the death of any member while engaged in a mob, . . . or by reason of death the result of suicide within two years after admission." Thereafter, and some years before the death of the member, the association regularly amended its by-law to read as follows: "No benefits shall be paid on account of the death of a member when death was the result of suicide, whether the member taking his own. life was sane or insane at the time; provided, that in case of suicide twice the amount of all assessments or month rates paid to the supreme tent by such member shall be paid back to the beneficiary named in the certificate, or to the person found to be entitled to receive the same, which amount shall not exceed the face of the certificate, and such amount shall be the full amount that can be claimed in any such case." Held, that in such case the amendment to the by-laws is reasonable and is valid, and, a member having come to his death by suicide, the beneficiary is entitled to recover upon the benefit certificate only twice the amount of all assessments or month rates paid to the supreme tent by him.

Waggener, Orr & Challis, for plaintiff in error; D. D. Aitken, of counsel.

C. D. Walker, and J. L. Berry, for defendant in error.

D. C. Tillotson, as amicus curiae.

OPINION

SMITH, J.:

The association assigns numerous errors in the introduction of evidence, in the overruling of its demurrer to plaintiff's evidence, and in the giving of, and refusal to give, instructions.

The association does not question but that one assessment would have aggregated the amount of $ 2000, and it was admitted on the argument of this case that Nelson came to his death by suicide. In their briefs counsel for each party have concurred in the statement that the case here should be determined upon the contract of indemnity. It is said in the brief of the defendant in error:

"We insist in the second place that the only dispute between the parties is as to the legal effect of admitted facts. . . . If the plaintiff's construction of the contract is the law, the defendant owed the plaintiff on the death of Andrew Nelson, on compliance by her with the conditions of the policy, $ 2000 upon a contract obligation. If, under the law, the defendant's contention as to what constituted the contract is correct, the defendant owed plaintiff, according to the terms of the contract as contended for by it, $ 768. In neither event could there be any dispute as to the amount of the obligation."

We fully agree with counsel in their statement of the status of the case here, and that the contract itself under the admitted facts is determinative of our decision. We shall therefore ignore the detailed specifications of error, by which practically the same question is repeatedly raised, and shall proceed to the discussion and determination of the rights of the parties under the contract.

In the application of Andrew Nelson for admission to the order and for the contract of endowment occurs the following:

"I hereby declare that the above are fair and true answers to the foregoing questions, and I hereby agree that these statements, in the application and the laws of the supreme tent of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, now in force or that may hereafter be adopted, shall form the basis of this contract of endowment. . . . This application and the laws of the supreme tent now in force, or that may hereafter be adopted, are made a part of the contract between myself and the supreme tent, and I, for myself and my beneficiary or beneficiaries, agree to conform to and be governed thereby."

The portion of the certificate material in this consideration reads:

"This certifies that Sir Knight Andrew Nelson has been regularly admitted in and is recognized as a member in good standing of Atchison tent, No. 2, located at Atchison, Kan., and that in accordance with, and under the provisions of, the laws governing the order his legal beneficiary named herein is entitled to receive one assessment on the membership, but not exceeding in amount the sum of $ 2000, and the said sum will be paid as a benefit to Anna Nelson, his wife, upon satisfactory proof of his death, together with the surrender of this certificate, provided he shall have in every particular complied with the laws, rules and regulations of the order governing members and their beneficiaries which are now in force, or may hereafter be adopted by the supreme tent, or the subordinate...