Bange v. Supreme Council Legion of Honor

161 S.W. 652, 179 Mo. App. 21, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 251
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 2, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 161 S.W. 652 (Bange v. Supreme Council Legion of Honor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bange v. Supreme Council Legion of Honor, 161 S.W. 652, 179 Mo. App. 21, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 251 (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

NORTONI, J.

This is a suit on a benefit certificate. The finding and judgment were for defendant and plaintiff prosecutes the appeal.

Defendant is a fraternal association, and the defense is that the insured forfeited his membership through nonpayment of contributions prior to his death and because of which he was suspended from the order. A second defense is to the effect that, though the suspension of the insured member was illegal, he nevertheless acquiesced therein, after having received due notice of such suspension.

The case has been reviewed here on two prior appeals. We find the relevant facts to he substantially the same as those stated on the first appeal. We copy that statement here as sufficient for the purposes now in hand. [See Bange v. Sup. Council, etc., 128 Mo. App. 461, 105 S. W. 1092.]

“The insured was Julius A. Bange. He was a member of Irving Council No. 2 of the defendant order, the Supreme Council Legion of Honor of Missouri. Minnie Bange was the wife of the insured and the beneficiary of the certificate, in which the order obligated itself to pay her $2,000 on due notice and proof of the death of her husband. Bange joined the order and took out the certificate April 5, 1902. At that time he was a resident of the city of St. Louis and lived at 3546 Henrietta street. He died February 19, 1905, in Texas, while traveling there as a salesman for a Chicago business concern. Subsequently Bange moved from No. 3546 Henrietta street, St. Louis," to 2637 Park avenue. This removal was in October, [28]*281903, and plaintiff with, his family, consisting of himself, wife and child, went to live with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Hobie. Thereafter the recorder of Irving Council would sometimes call at 2637 Park avenue to collect the dues and sometimes send a written notice of a call for payment to that address. A by-law of the order provided that a notice to pay dues should be ‘directed to the regular address of the member and deposited in the post office,’ provided further that this should be a sufficient notice to bind a member. Contributions to the relief fund were called monthly and during the year 1904, Bange’s dues were $1.39 a month. In May of that year and while still residing at 2637 Park avenue, he paid the order six dollars, which sum discharged his dues to June 30, 1904, and left thirty-three cents standing to his credit. The call due June first and payable as late as June 30th, was No. 128, and was the last call paid by Bange. During the summer and sometime, it seems, after June, Bange, being out of employment, went to Chicago to seek work. When he left St. Louis he stored his furniture in the cellar of his mother-in-law’s home on Park avenue and his wife and child remained there. His wife visited him for six weeks during the summer in Chicago. Bange worked for a time in Chicago and in January, 1905, got a position as traveling salesman, his territory .being in Texas. In the meantime, he had lived with his sister at No. 2094 Wilcox avenue, Chicago; that is to say, he stayed at said number from some time in July, 1904, until January, 1905, and then .went to Texas. There is evidence tending to show his mail address continued to be in Chicago, or that such' of his mail as came to 2637 Park avenue, St. Louis, was forwarded to his Chicago address. Mrs. Hobie swore that during the summer of 1904, after Bange had left St. Louis and while his wife was visiting him in Chicago, Malcolm A. Lindsley, the recorder of Irving Council, called once or twice at 2637 Park avenue' [29]*29to collect Bange’s dues and Mrs. Hobie told Lindsley Bange’s Chicago address. She testified further Lindsley said the lodge would keep up -the assessments for a year. It is not shown positively that Mrs. Hobie communicated this statement to Bange, but it is fairly inferable that she did. This occurred in August, 1904. In point of fact the Irving Council did pay Bange’s dues for three months; that is, for July, August and September, and had previously paid his calls for April, May and June, though for the latter three months- he had reimbursed the council. Such payment of dues for delinquents was in accordance not only with the custom, but with a by-law of the order. Said by-law is as follows:

“ ‘Each member shall pay the amount due as his contribution to the relief fund within thirty days from the date of such call, and any member failing to pay such contribution on or before the first meeting of his council after the expiration of said thirty days, shall stand suspended from the order and from all benefits therefrom: provided, however, that any council may, by a majority vote of the members present at said meeting, authorize the payment of a member’s contribution as a loan or as a gift, from its general or any fund, other than the' relief fund, but such payment must be made within the time herein specified. ’
‘ ‘ There is another by-law which provided methods for the reinstatement of suspended members. Within thirty days from the date of suspension a member may file with the_ recorder of the council a written application for reinstatement and pay to said recorder all dues and fines in arrears from the date of suspension and thereupon be reinstated. If the suspended member waits ninety days after Ms suspension before seeking reinstatement, he must file a written application, accompanied by the certificate of some physician and pay up his contributions. In such instance he can only be reinstated by making an application in that [30]*30form and obtaining a favorable vote of Ms council. If a suspended member waits longer than ninety days before applying for reinstatement, it seems he must be elected as a new member. The testimony of Lindsley was the council usually carried a delinquent for three months or sometimes longer when solicited. On October 1, 1904, call No. 132 for contributions from members was issued and a notice of the call sent by the ¡recorder Lindsley to Bange to No. 2637 Park avenue, so Lindsley swore, and further, that he sent a notice of said call again on November first. Lindsley is a man upwards of seventy years old. His testimony on this point is that he would write out a large number of notices of assessment, thirty or more, place them in stamped and addressed envelopes, take a batch to a mail box and deposit them. Plis testimony is quite positive that he mailed Bange on October and November first, notices of the call for assessment No. 132. This assessment would be $5.67 for three months’ dues. Mrs. Hobie’s testimony tends to prove no notice was sent'; for she swore that, to her knowledge, no letters came for Bange to her home with the card of Irving Council stamped on the corner of the envelope. Linds1 ley testified the notices were sent out in envelopes with said card on them. Mrs. Hobie swore any mail that came to her home for Bange was forwarded to Chicago; that she told Lindsley Bange’s regular address was 2094 Wilcox avenue, Chicago, and Lindsley promised to write to him at that address. The by-law of the order regarding the duties of the recorder, provided that said officer of each subordinate council should ‘conduct all its correspondence.’ On November 9, 1904, Bange was suspended and his suspension was entered on the minutes of Irving Council at one of its monthly meetings, for nonpayment of dues. Lindsley swore he sent a notice of his suspension to him and the supreme recorder of the Legion of Honor, whose office is at 410 Fullerton Building, St. Louis, [31]*31testified that after he was notified of the suspension by Irving Council, he, too, sent a notice of it to Bange. Both notices were addressed to 2637 Park avenue, St.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
161 S.W. 652, 179 Mo. App. 21, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bange-v-supreme-council-legion-of-honor-moctapp-1913.