Healy v. Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World
Healy v. Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World
Opinion of the Court
I. The defendant association is a fraternal and benevolent life insurance association engaged in insuring the lives of its members upon the mutual assessment plan. It is incorporated under the laws of Nebraska, and has its principal camp or place of business in the city of Omaha, and subordinate camps throughout -the country, including Camp No. 24, at Cedar Bapids, Iowa. The beneficiary certificate sued upon provides as follows: “The liability of the sovereign camp for the payment of benefits under this certificate shall not begin until the member named herein shall have paid all the entrance fees, paid all his advance assessments, paid the sovereign camp and camp general funds duo for the month, paid the physician’s fee for medical examination, been obligated or introduced by a camp or authorized deputy in due form, and had delivered to him his beneficiary certificate while in good health. The foregoing provisions are hereby made a part of the considerations for, and are considerations precedent to the payment of benefits in case of his death.” The entrance fee provided was $5, $1 of which was required to be forwarded with the application for membership to the sovereign camp; the physician’s fee was $1; and “camp general funds due for the month” 15 cents to the sovereign camp, and 25 cents to the local camp — aggregating- $G.40. The defendant B. O. Wood, state deputy, was duly employed by Camp No. 24 to solicit applications
III. Provisions in the defendant’s laws and in this contract, forbidding agents from waiving requirements of the contract, are set out and discussed, with many citations; also the extent of the authority of the defendant Wood. As we view the case, we need not inquire as to these matters. It is not disputed but that both Mr. Wood and the examining physician might waive so much of the payments as was to come to them personally. Under Mr. Wood’s contract with Camp No. 24, he was personally entitled to $5 adoption fee, and it is entirely clear that ho waived its payment in advance of the delivery of the certificate, from the fact that he countersigned the certificate as he did, and consented to its delivery without payment of the $5, as he did in a number of other cases. The $1 dire to the medical examiner was his personal compensation, and the applicant had no right to demand its return in case liis application was rejected. The examining physician had a right to demand the payment of this fee by the applicant before furnishing his report of the examination. This he. did not do, and therefore we may presume that he waived the payment of the $1 in advance of the delivery of the certificate. The other payments required to be made by the applicant were as staled in defendants’ argument, “$1.60; the monthly sovereign camp dues, 15 cents; and the local camp dues, alleged in defendants’ answer to be 25 cents, were as shown by the proof, 50 cents” — call it 50, and wo have an aggregate of $2.25. That Deputy Wood paid these items out of the $3 paid to him is satisfactorily shown by the fact that the sovereign camp accepted the appli
If it should be said that the physician did not waive payment of his $1 in advance, still the $3 were enough to pay all but Mr. Wood according to the answer, and within 25 cents of enough according to what is claimed to be the proof. We would hesitate to hold this certificate invalid because of a failure to pay that 25 cents after the deceased had been recognized in life and after death by the local camp as a member. It was true, as stated on the certificate by Mr. Wood and Mr. Taylor, that all required payments had been made, and that the applicant “has been introduced as a member of this camp.” The deceased had complied with every requirement precedent' to the delivery of the certificate of membership to him, and on its delivery became a member, entitled to all the benefits contracted thereby. The decree of the superior court is correct, and it is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- M. L. Healy, Guardian v. Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World, J. C. Root, B. C. Wood and J. T. Yates
- Status
- Published