Duncan v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen

281 N.W. 121, 225 Iowa 539
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedAugust 5, 1938
DocketNo. 44379.
StatusPublished

This text of 281 N.W. 121 (Duncan v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duncan v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen, 281 N.W. 121, 225 Iowa 539 (iowa 1938).

Opinion

Miller, J.

— The defendant Brotherhood, appellee, is a fraternal beneficiary insurance association with its principal office and place of business in Cleveland, Ohio-. On October 25, 1933, one Lysle Duncan was a member of Ottumwa Lodge No. 41 of said Brotherhood and on said date it issued to him its beneficiary certificate of insurance in the sum of $1,500, therein designating his wife, Leah F. Duncan, appellant herein, as beneficiary. Lysle Duncan died on or about July 31, 1935, at which time all assessments were paid upon this certificate. Following his death, the required proofs of death and identifications of decedent and of appellant as beneficiary were furnished appellee. Within ten days or two weeks following her husband’s death, appellant, at the request of the recording and financial secretary of the local Ottumwa lodge of appellee, mailed to said local secretary the beneficiary certificate in question, together with a copy of the Constitution of the Brotherhood, which had been in her husband’s possession. This certificate and copy of the constitution were both retained by appellee and never returned to appellant. On November 30, 1935, appellee, through its general secretary and treasurer notified appellant of its rejection of her claim, and of its disclaimer of any and all liability under the' benefit certificate in question. This rejection of her claim was by letter in which letter was enclosed three checks in the total amount of $71.36, representing assessments that had been paid upon said certificate, together with interest.

Thereafter, on February 5, 1936, appellant filed her petition herein; to which petition appellee filed its answer,.its substituted answer, and its amendment to its substituted answer. In these pleadings appellee admitted its execution of the beneficiary certificate sued upon, admitted the death of said Lysle Duncan, alleged that its constitution and laws, together with the applicá *541 tion for membership and medical examination, and the beneficiary certificate constituted the agreement between the member and the Brotherhood; alleged that appellant had not complied with the provisions of its constitution in either exhausting her remedy by appeal or by giving notice in writing of her intention ■ to bring this • action; alleged that appellant had not complied with the terms of the beneficiary certificate in exhausting her remedy by appeal as provided therein; and further alleged that on account of her failure to so exhaust her remedy by appeal, as provided by the laws of appellee, that she was deprived of the right to maintain this action.

Appellant, in her reply, alleged: First, that the constitution and laws of the Brotherhood do not provide for an appeal by a beneficiary named in a beneficiary certificate of the Brotherhood ; and, second, that the acts of appellee in taking possession of the beneficiary certificate and her copy of its constitution and retaining same, without advising her that she was required to appeal from the rejection of her claim and give 30 days notice of her intention to bring an action, constituted a fraud upon appellant and that appellee was therefore estopped from relying upon such alleged failure to appeal from the rejection of her claim, and to give 30 days notice of her intention to bring this action.

The testimony was undisputed and following the • introduction of all the testimony, motions were made by both parties for directed verdicts. In compliance with an agreement, the jury was excused from further consideration of the case and it was agreed that the court should take said motions under advisement and later file his ruling.

Thereafter, on the 6th day of July, 1937, the court filed a memorandum opinion, therein overruling appellant’s motion for directed verdict, and sustaining appellee’s motion for directed verdict; and in compliance with said rulings the court on the 29th day of July, 1937, entered judgment dismissing appellant’s petition upon its merits and rendered judgment against appellant for the costs of the action; providing however that as appellee had tendered the sum of $71.36, being the amount of assessments plus interest paid (by the insured, that appellee pay said sum to the clerk of the courts, and if not so paid by September 1, 1937, that judgment would be entered against appellee therefor.

Examination of the briefs and arguments reveals that dur *542 ing the trial below there must have been involved a claimed defense of false statements made by the insured in his application for the beneficiary certificate in question. However, if so, this defense has been entirely abandoned, as the record before us fails to reveal any basis therefor either in the pleadings or in the testimony; and likewise, while that matter is referred to by the trial court in his opinion, no finding whatever is made relative thereto'.

We are then concerned with the question of whether or not the trial court was correct in his ruling to the effect that appellant failed to’ exhaust her remedies by appeal, as provided by the laws of the Brotherhood, and that therefore she is not entitled to recover. The beneficiary certificate in question contains the following provisions:

‘ ‘ All Rights or Action by the Beneficiary upon this Certificate shall be absolutely barred unless proof of death, as required by said Constitution, shall be made within six months from the time that said Beneficiary has acquired knowledge of the fact of the death of said member, * * * Any action on this Certificate, either by the aforesaid member or the Beneficiary designated herein, shall be absolutely barred unless such action shall be commenced in some court of competent jurisdiction within six months from the ’ final rejection of the claim by the highest tribunal of the Brotherhood.”

The beneficiary certificate, in addition to providing for payment to the beneficiary in the event of the insured’s death, likewise contains provisions for the payment of disability allowances to the insured for disabilities suffered by him while living, and the deleted portion of the quoted clause from the certificate, above set out, refers to claims by the insured for disabilities while living. An ánalysis of the above quoted clause of the certificate reveals that said clause is purely one of limitation, as by the terms thereof it is plainly provided that any action thereon by the beneficiary shall be absolutely barred unless such action shall be commenced within six months from the final rejection of the claim by the highest tribunal of the Brotherhood. It is impossible to construe the quoted clause from the certificate to be a condition precedent to commencing an action, and an attempt to impute to that clause a construction to the effect that it prohibits the commencement of an action until after the final *543 rejection of the claim by the highest tribunal of the Brotherhood would be injecting a construction and meaning to the words therein that the clause does not permit. Being satisfied that this certificate provision constitutes a limitation only as to the time wherein an action should be commenced, it follows that the same does not require an appeal by the beneficiary before instituting action.

The certificate in question, however, contains the following provision:

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Bluebook (online)
281 N.W. 121, 225 Iowa 539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duncan-v-brotherhood-of-locomotive-firemen-enginemen-iowa-1938.