Rueb v. Rehder

174 P. 992, 24 N.M. 534
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 28, 1918
DocketNo. 2178, 2179
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 174 P. 992 (Rueb v. Rehder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rueb v. Rehder, 174 P. 992, 24 N.M. 534 (N.M. 1918).

Opinion

OPINION OP THE COURT.

ROBERTS, J.

This is a consolidated case, made up of two cases which were brought and tried in the district court of Bernalillo county upon the same questions of law and fact. The pleadings, evidence, and final judgment in each ease are exactly alike. The purpose of each suit was to enjoin the defendants, who were all the members and the officers of the Rio Puerco Division No. 446, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, from refusing to recognize the plaintiff in each ease as a member of the said association, and from denying them the rights and privileges of membership therein, and to annul an order made by the defendants expelling plaintiffs from such rights and membership.

The ground upon which relief was sought was that the order of expulsion was null and void, of no force and effect, and illegal, in that plaintiffs were once tried and acquitted of the charge upon which they had been expelled, and that under the constitution, rules, and regulations of the order the association was without power or authority thereunder to try plaintiffs the second time for the same offense; further, that at the second trial, which resulted in plaintiffs’ expulsion, no evidence was heard, and plaintiffs were given no opportunity to combat such charges by the introduction of evidence. It was further alleged: That, by reason of membership in the division in question, plaintiffs were entitled to and did carry policies of life and accident insurance in the Locomotive Engineers’ Mutual Life & Accident Insurance Company, a corporation organized for the purpose of affording the members of the association, of which plaintiffs had been members, and other similar organizations, opportunity to obtain life and accident insurance in said corporation at terms and rates favorable to members of the association. That plaintiffs had carried policies therein for some years, which were in full force and effect, but which would be subject to cancellation and would be cancelled, unless plaintiffs were restored to membership in the local association. A copy of the policy carried in each case was attached as an exhibit to the complaint. Further that the association owned certain property, consisting of insignia, paraphernalia, and personal property, in which the plaintiffs had an interest as members. That plaintiffs’ membership in said association, by virtue of the insurance carried by them, was a property right of value, which would be lost without the intervention of the court. The complaint, after setting forth in detail the acts and grievances complained of, alleged that they had exhausted all their remedies within the order.

The answer denied that plaintiffs had been tried twice for the same offense; alleged that they were guilty of a violation of the statutes and rules of the order, the penalty for tbe specific act, which was set tip in the answer, being expulsion from the order, upon' a finding of guilt by the local organization; denied that the local association owned any-property, except a Bible and a gavel; alleged that plaintiffs had not exhausted their remedies within the order; and asked that the complaint be dismissed.

The court, after hearing evidence on behalf of the appellants, upon motion of counsel for the appellees, dismissed the complaints, upon the ground that appellants had a remedy within the order, and that they could not appeal to the courts for redress until they had exhausted such remedies. From the judgment, this appeal is jprose-cuted. ’ &

[1] At the outset, appellants are met by the contention of appellees that their assignments of error are not sufficient to warrant a review of the proceedings of the district court. Ten separate assignments of error are stated in the assignment filed by appellants. It would unduly lengthen the opinion to set them ' out. Some of the assignments are not as specific as they should have been, but there are good assignments, which sufficiently present the questions we will consider. The eighth assignment reads as follows:

“That tbe court erred in refusing to permit tbe plaintiff to prove tbat at tbe second trial of August 4, 1916, tbe plaintiff pleaded not guilty to tbe charge of having violated section 35 of tbe standing rules,' and tbat no testimony was introduced against him, and no evidence was before tbe division at said meeting, and tbat tbe plaintiff was expelled by tbe defendants at tbe said meeting upon tbe ground tbat they were obliged to expel tbe ■ plaintiff or lose tbe charter of tbe division, and tbat they [defendants] knew in fact tbat the Grand Chief had ordered them to expel' tbe plaintiff, and they [defendants] would either have to do so or lose tbe charter of tbe division, and tbat there was no testimony of any kind before tbe said meeting at tbe trial of these plaintiffs and up to the time of their expulsion, and there was no evidence produced against plaintiff at said second trial.”

The fifth assignment reads as follows:

“That the court erred in ruling that the plaintiff has a right of appéal within the order from the second trial and expulsion from the order.”

Clearly the eighth assignment was sufficiently specific, and pointed directly to the error sought to be reviewed. The error assigned by the fifth paragraph was the turning point in the ease, and we think was sufficient to present the question as to the propriety of the court’s ruling.

Appellees cite and rely upon the following cases: Mogollon v. Stout, 14 N. M. 245, 91 Pac. 724; Friday v. Railway Co., 16 N. M. 434, 120 Pac. 316; Schofield v. Territory, 9 N. M. 526, 534, 56 Pac. 306; Pearce v. Strickler, 9 N. M. 467, 54 Pac. 748; Farmers’ Development Co. v. Rayado, 18 N. M. 1, 133 Pac. 104. An examination of the cases, however, will show the assignments therein involved fall far shprt of being as specific as the ones quoted. "While holding the two assignments stated to be sufficient, we do not desire to be understood as holding that all the others are insufficient. Some of them are equally good, but the two stated are in fact sufficient to present the decisive questions in the case.

[2] Passing, now, to a consideration of the case on its merits. The first question logically requiring consideration is whether or not the court was in error in not permitting appellants to introduce evidence to show that they had been theretofore tried and acquitted by the lodge of the charges upon which they were expelled, and also for the purpose of showing that the order of expulsion was voted without evidence against the appellants, or without appellants having an opportunity to introduce evidence to combat the charges. In order to understand the question properly, it is perhaps advisable to briefly state the facts which appellants desire to prove, the offer of which was refused by the court. Section 35 of the standing rules of the association in question reads as follows:

“Any member who, by verbal or written communication to railroad officials or others, interferes with a grievance tliat is in tlie bands of a committee, or at any other time makes any suggestion to any official that may cause discord in any division, shall he expelled as per sections 49 and 54 of statutes, when proven guilty: Provided, however, this law shall not apply to a brother in official position, when called upon to express an opinion in his official capacity.”

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Bluebook (online)
174 P. 992, 24 N.M. 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rueb-v-rehder-nm-1918.