Modern Bhd. of America v. Chandler
Modern Bhd. of America v. Chandler
Opinion of the Court
The appellee, George A. Chandler, a minor, by next friend, his stepfather, brought this suit against the Modern Brotherhood of America, upon a benefit certificate for $1,000, issued to his mother, Mrs. Sarah V. Rose. The plaintiff alleged, in substance, that the defendant was an incorporated society under the laws of the state of Iowa; that it had a system of local lodges, and its membership consisted of the membership of such local lodges; that on the 18th day of July, 1910, it issued to the deceased, Sarah V. Rose, the benefit certificate sued on, wherein it promised to pay to the beneficiary, who was the plaintiff, Chandler, one full assessment of all benefit members in good standing in said society, not to exceed $1,000, in case of the death of the said insured and member, Sarah Y. Rose, while in good standing; that Sarah V. Rose died on the 24th day of September, 1910, in good standing; and that the certificate was in full force and effect, and unpaid. The prayer sought judgment for the $1,000, with the legal rate of interest from January 20, 1911; also 12 per cent, thereon as statutory damages, and $250 attorney’s fees. The defendant demurred to that portion of the petition which asked for statutory damages and attorney’s fees, and the demurrer was sustained. Further answering, the defendant denied the allegations of plaintiff’s petition, and, among other things, specially pleaded that the Modern Brotherhood of America was not an insurance company, as that term is understood, but was a fraternal organization writing benefits for its membership, provided such membership complied with the rules and regulations and constitution and by-laws of the fraternity, which included a complete disclosing to the fraternity the ailments asked about in the application or membership blank when the person applied for membership, and that the deceased did not disclose the presence of a disease and ailment at the time she applied for membership, whereby she forfeited any right that might have accrued to her or her beneficiary under the certificate, and that the same was in fact null and void; that the deceased was suffering, at the time that the application for membership was made by her, with wnat is known and called pus tubes, the existence of which she failed to disclose in her written application to the defendant, and by reason of which failure she concealed from the defendant a disease and ailment which she was bounden to disclose, and by reason of which failure she secured the certificate, and in this way the defendant was imposed upon, and all of the members of the defendant, in that she concealed the existence of said disease or ailment, which said disease and ailment was the cause of and contributed to her death; that, on August 1, 1910, the deceased was suspended from membership in defendant’s society for failure to pay her dues and assessments, as she was bound to do under the rules and by-laws and regulations of the defendant, wherein and whereby defendant forfeited any and all claim by reason of the certificate sued upon, and thereafter, about August 19th, she sought reinstatement, hut that such reinstatement was not in fact a reinstatement, because at said time of attempting such reinstatement the deceased was not in good health, and therefore could not be reinstated, as is provided by the by-laws and rules and regulations of the defendant.
To the answer of the defendant, the plaintiff replied by a general denial, and specially, in substance, that the deceased made her application in good faith, and to the best of her knowledge and belief answered all of the questions put to her by the medical examiner and agent of defendant; that she was not skilled in the science of medicine; that the medical examiner asked her certain questions, and in reply thereto she. stated all the facts within her knowledge; that when the application was thus prepared by the defendant’s medical examiner he caused the deceased to sign the application so prepared by him, and assured her that it was a full and correct statement of the facts as given by her; that she gave the medical examiner all the information she had upon the subjects inquired about by him, made complete and correct answers to all questions propounded to her, and that she concealed nothing from him; that if the deceased was suspended on August 1, 1910, for nonpayment of assessments said assessments were thereafter, on August 19, 1910, paid by her to the secretary of defendant’s local lodge in Dallas, Tex.; that the deceased, at that time, was in good health, and the payment *628 of said' assessments made in good faith; that defendant’s secretary and local officer, to whom she paid said assessments, accepted and approved said payments, and thereby adjudged her to be eligible to reinstatement, and so pronounced her at the time, and reinstated her as a member of defendant, as he was duly authorized to do by defendant.
The case was tried by the court, without a jury, and the trial resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant appealed.
The court filed the following conclusions of fact, which are adopted by this court: That the defendant, the Modern Brotherhood of America, on the 9th day of May, 1910, duly issued a certificate to Sarah V. Rose, of Dallas, Tex., countersigped by Z. M. Duckworth, secretary of its local lodge at Dallas, whereby it agreed, in case of the death of said Sarah Y. Rose while in good standing, to pay $1,000 to the son and sister of said member, and that thereafter said policy was rewritten, so as to make same payable only to George A. Chandler, son of said member. That the said Sarah Y. Rose died in Dallas, Tex., on the 24th day of September, 1910; that she was taken ill at her home in Dallas on the 16th of September, and was suffering with constipation or locked bowels. That she was removed from her home to the Baptist Sanitarium on the evening of the 23d of September, and was immediately after operated upon, and died on the following afternoon. That at the time of her death the said Sarah V. Rose was a member in good standing in said defendant’s organization, having paid all of the lawful dues and fees required up to that time. That there is no evidence showing, or tending to show, that the said Sarah V. Rose practiced, or attempted to practice, a fraud upon the defendant, either at the time she received the certificate sued upon, or at the time of the payment by her, on August 19, 1910, of the dues which became delinquent on the 1st day of said month; and defendant has failed to show that any statement, recorded in the policy sued upon as having been made by her to the medical examiner of the defendant at the time said policy was sued- on, was untrue, or that the said Sarah V. Rose acted in bad faith in making any such statement. The defendant failed to 'establish that Mrs. Rose knew, or had good reason to believe, that she had an incipient or developed malady of any kind when she joined the society in question. ■ She was an unusually strong, vigorous, and healthy looking woman, doing all of her own housework for years and up to immediately preceding her death. There was no evidence that she died as a result of pus tubes. There was no evidence that she was operated on for pus tubes. It was only after the operation that that alleged fact was specifically ascertained. There was no evidence that she died as a •result of the operation. There was no evi-deuce that she did not die as a result of the operation. There was evidence that on another occasion she was somewhat sick with her bowels, and that an emetic or some kind of medication relieved her. The doctors were silent as to what caused her death —if they knew. From all the evidence and facts, this court concludes that Mrs. Rose had no intention of and did not perpetrate a fraud upon this society, but acted in good faith; and that the defendant society failed to cast a cloud on her right, through her beneficiaries, to recover on the certificate issued and sued on in this case.
The findings of fact made by the trial court are well supported by the evidence; and the judgment entered in accordance therewith is affirmed.
Reference
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- Modern Brotherhood of America v. Chandler.
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