Zaremba v. Int'l Harvester Corp.

• Decision Date: 07 December 1915
• Citation: 162 Wis. 231,155 N.W. 114
• Parties: ZAREMBA v. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER CORPORATION.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

162 Wis. 231

155 N.W. 114

ZAREMBA

v.INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER CORPORATION.^a1

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Dec. 7, 1915.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Milwaukee County; Oscar M. Fritz, Judge.

Action by Agnes Zaremba against the International Harvester Corporation. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

The action is to recover death benefits upon a certificate of membership in an unincorporated employés' benefit association composed of employés of the defendant corporation. The plaintiff is the beneficiary named in the certificate, and is the widow of Frank Zaremba, a member of the Association in good standing, who died July 16, 1912. The defendant, for the purposes of the action, admits that it has assumed liability to pay any sum which may be legally due on the certificate. The action was brought and tried in the civil court of Milwaukee county. Two defenses were relied on, viz.: (1) That the death of the insured resulted from the immoderate use of intoxicating liquors; and (2) that by the terms of the contract the plaintiff should have exhausted her remedy before the tribunals of the Association. The jury found against the defendant on the first issue, and the court held against it on the second issue, and judgment was rendered by the civil court for the plaintiff for the amount of the death benefits, viz., $939.31 and costs, which judgment was affirmed upon appeal to the circuit court and the defendant appeals.Flanders, Bottum, Fawsett & Bottum, of Milwaukee (David A. Orebaugh and Edgar A. Bancroft, both of Chicago, Ill., of counsel), for appellant.

Charles E. Hammersley, of Milwaukee, for respondent.

WINSLOW, C. J. (after stating the facts as above).

The judgment must be affirmed, under the principles laid down by this court in Fox v. Fraternal Acc. Ass'n, 96 Wis. 390, 71 N. W. 363.

[1] In the present case the application for insurance provided that, if proper claim were not made to the superintendent of the Association within one year after the death of the insured, the death benefit should lapse, and, further, that both the insured and the beneficiaries should be governed by the rules of the Association providing for a final and conclusive settlement of all claims for benefits by reference to the superintendent of the Association and an appeal from his decision to the board of trustees of the Association. The rules referred to provided that all controversies as to any claim for benefits should be submitted to...