Lyons v. American Legion Post No. 650 Realty Co.

172 Ohio St. (N.S.) 331
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 14, 1961
DocketNo. 36851
StatusPublished

This text of 172 Ohio St. (N.S.) 331 (Lyons v. American Legion Post No. 650 Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lyons v. American Legion Post No. 650 Realty Co., 172 Ohio St. (N.S.) 331 (Ohio 1961).

Opinion

Zimmerman, J.

In the cases of Koogler et al., Trustees, v. Koogler (1933), 127 Ohio St., 57, 186 N. E., 725; State v. Fremont Lodge of Loyal Order of Moose (1949), 151 Ohio St., 19, 84 N. E. (2d), 498; and Damm v. Elyria Lodge No. 465, B. P. O. E. (1952), 158 Ohio St., 107, 107 N. E. (2d), 337, it was either indicated or held that, since a voluntary unincorporated association had no status as a legal entity, an action against it as such would not lie, and that ordinarily any action had to be brought against the individual members of such an association collectively and conjointly.

Or stating it in another way, “In the absence of an enabling statute, a voluntary association cannot be sued by its association name. It has no legal existence, and the persons composing it must be joined individually.” Kimball v. Lower Columbia Fire Assn., 67 Ore., 249, 252, 135 P., 877, 878. See, also, United Mine Workers of America v. Coronado Coal Co., 259 U. S., 344, 385, 66 L. Ed., 975, 984, 42 S. Ct., 570, 574, 27 A. L. R., 762, 771.

Then, effective on September 30,1955, the General Assembly enacted legislation which is now Sections 1745.01 through 1745.04, Revised Code. Section 1745.01 provides:

“Any unincorporated association may contract or sue in behalf of those who are members and, in its own behalf, be sued as an entity under the name by which it is commonly known and called.”

Section 1745.02 reads:

“All assets, property, funds, and any right or interest, at law or in equity, of such unincorporated association shall be subject to judgment, execution and other process. A money judgment against such unincorporated association shall be enforced only against the association as an entity and shall not be enforceable against the property of an individual member of such association.”

Section 1745.03 covers the service of summons on an unincorporated association, and Section 1745.04 states that a change in the officers or members of such an association shall not abate any cause of action against it.

Ordinarily, it is for the Legislature to determine who may sue or be sued so long as it does not interfere with vested [334]*334rights, deny any remedy, or transgress constitutional inhibitions. As a general rule, every state has control over the remedies it offers litigants in its courts. It may give a new and additional remedy as to a right or equity already in‘existence and it may abolish old remedies and substitute new. United States Heater Co. v. Iron Molders’ Union of North America, 129 Mich., 354, 363, 88 N. W., 889, 893; 16 Corpus Juris Secundum, 514, Constitutional Law, Section 128; 10 Ohio Jurisprudence (2d), 329, Section 251.

In the early case of Darling v. Peck, 15 Ohio, 65, 72, the following statement appears:

“Where a statute gives a new remedy without impairing or denying one already known to the law, the rule is, to consider it as cumulative, allowing either the new or the old remedy to be pursued at the option of the party seeking redress.” To like effect are Feuchter v. Keyl, 48 Ohio St., 357, 27 N. E., 860; and City of Zanesville v. Fannan, 53 Ohio St., 605, 42 N. E., 703, 53 Am. St. Rep., 664.

Is it the purpose and intent of the statutes quoted and referred to above to limit actions solely against unincorporated associations as entities in the names they commonly use, as determined by the two lower courts herein, or may the individual members of such associations still be sued as under the former practice? We think the new statutes are no more than cumulative and do not abrogate the right to sue the members of the associations if the suitor chooses to proceed in that way. It is to be noted that Section 1745.01, Revised Code, uses the permissive word, “may,” and that, under Section 1745.02, Revised Code, when a suitor does take advantage of the enabling statutes by suing an unincorporated association by the name it uses, the collection of any judgment obtained against such association must be satisfied out of its property alone and the property of its members is immune from seizure. Surely, had the General Assembly intended to eliminate actions against the individuals composing an unincorporated association, it would have so expressed itself.

That statutes like Section 1745.01 et seq., Revised Code, represent an alternative mode of procedure appears to be the established rule. Thus, in 7 Corpus Juris Secundum, 91, Associations, Section 36, the following statement is made:

[335]*335“It has been said that it is only by virtue of statute that an unincorporated association may be sued as an entity. In some states statutes have been enacted which expressly or impliedly authorize the bringing of actions against unincorporated associations in their common name * *

And at page 92, ibid., it is stated that such statutes do “not take away the right previously existing at common law. The individuals composing such an association do not, by force of such statutes, acquire any immunity from individual liability, and it is optional with a creditor to sue either the association as such or the individuals composing it.”

See, also, Littleton v. Wells & McComas Council, No. 14, Jr. O. U. A. M., 98 Md., 453, 456, 56 A., 798, 799, and Jenkinson v. Wysner, 125 Mich., 89, 90, 83 N. W., 1012, 1013.

And Sperry Products, Inc., v. Association of American Railroads (C. C. A., 2), 132 F. (2d), 408, 145 A. L. R., 694 (certiorari denied, 319 U. S., 744, 87 L. Ed., 1700, 63 S. Ct., 1031), is authority for the proposition that, notwithstanding an unincorporated association may be sued as such, the common-law rule that liability for its torts may be asserted against the members still prevails.

An interesting case is that of Davison v. Holden, 55 Conn., 103, 10 A., 515, 3 Am. St. Rep., 40. There, suit and recovery were sanctioned against two officer-members of an unincorporated commercial association for debts incurred on behalf of the association in making purchases of merchandise incident to its business. The second paragraph of the syllabus of that case reads:

“A statute (Gen. Statutes, p. 417, sec. 7,) provides that ‘any number, of persons associated and known by some distinguishing name may sue and be sued and plead and be impleaded by such name.’ And another statute (Gen. Statutes, p. 403, sec. 9,) provides that the individual property of the members of such an association shall not be liable to attachment or levy of execution in a suit brought against the association as such. Held that the individuals composing such an association do not acquire by force of these statutes any immunity from individual liability, and that it is optional with a creditor to bring a suit against the association as such or the [336]*336individuals composing it, the only difference being that in the former case he can levy only on the property of the association.”

However, a recognized difference exists between an unincorporated association organized for the transaction of business and one organized for fraternal or social purposes. This is illustrated in Azzolina v. Order of the Sons of Italy, Conte Luigi Cadorna, No. 440, 119 Conn., 681, 691, 179 A., 201, 204, where it is stated in the opinion:

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Related

United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co.
259 U.S. 344 (Supreme Court, 1922)
Thomas v. Dunne
279 P.2d 427 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1955)
Azzolina v. Order of the Sons of Italy
179 A. 201 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1935)
Brady v. Mutual Benefit Department of the Order of Railway Conductors of America
284 S.W. 1045 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1926)
Littleton v. Wells & McComas Council, No. 14
56 A. 798 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1904)
Knopp v. Sherwood
193 N.E. 334 (New York Court of Appeals, 1934)
State v. Fremont Lodge of Loyal Order of Moose
84 N.E.2d 498 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1949)
Koogler v. Koogler
186 N.E. 725 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1933)
Knopp v. Sherwood
239 A.D. 475 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1933)
Davison v. Holden
10 A. 515 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1887)
Kimball v. Lower Columbia Fire Assn.
135 P. 877 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1913)
Thomas v. Dunne
279 P.2d 427 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1955)
Jenkinson v. Wysner
83 N.W. 1012 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1900)
Maryland Casualty Co. v. Dixie Pine Products Co.
319 U.S. 743 (Supreme Court, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
172 Ohio St. (N.S.) 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyons-v-american-legion-post-no-650-realty-co-ohio-1961.