Sheridan v. Thibodaux Benevolent Ass'n

134 So. 360, 19 La. App. 762, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 391
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 5, 1931
DocketNos. 754-975
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 134 So. 360 (Sheridan v. Thibodaux Benevolent Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sheridan v. Thibodaux Benevolent Ass'n, 134 So. 360, 19 La. App. 762, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 391 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinions

ELLIOTT, J.

Mrs. Cora E. Sheridan claims $1,000 of the Thibodaux Benevolent Association as due her on a benefit certificate, and the further sum of $50 on a burial fund certificate for that amount. These certificates had been issued to George C. Sheridan, her husband, as a member of the said association. Mrs. Sheridan is the beneficiary in the certificate for [764]*764$1,000, and the certificate for $50 was payable to her as beneficiary of her husband. She alleges that George C. Sheridan was a member of said association in good standing at the time of his death;' that said association has refused to pay said certificate after due proof of his death and amicable demand.

She brought suit in Washington parish, the parish in which she resides and of which her husband was a resident at the time of his death.

The defendant, Thibodaux Benevolent Association, is domiciled in the parish of Lafayette.

Defendant excepted to the jurisdiction of the Washington parish court ratione personae. This exception was overruled, and an exception of non-joinder was then filed, which was also overruled.-

Defendant then answered, denying plaintiff’s right to recover on the certificates, and alleges that it is not liable at all, but that, if liability exists, it is that of the membership of the association, and that they can only be called on to pay in conformity with the articles of agreement under which the association exists.

The association further alleges that the membersip of George C. Sheridan was based on certain warranties concerning his health contained in his application for membership, in which he agreed that, if the stipulation concerning his health were not true, his membership in the association was to be null and void; that said Sheridan, after becoming a member, permitted his membership to lapse on account of nonpayment of assessments; that he after-wards made application for reinstatement, making certain statements in his application as to his health, agreeing therein that if his statements were untrue, his reinstatement was to be null and void.

Defendant alleges that the statements of said Sheridan in regard to his health in his application for membership and in his application for reinstatement were false and untrue; that his membership and said certificates were therefore null and void. Defendant tendered to plaintiff the premium whiph George C. Sheridan had paid, with accrued cost at the time of answering, and prayed that plaintiff’s demand be rejected. There was judgment in favor .of the plaintiff as prayed for. Defendant has appealed.

The Code of Practice, art. 165 (amended by Act No. 130 of 1926), in providing exceptions to the general rule, which requires a defendant to be sued before the court having jurisdiction over the place of his domicile or residence, says:

“10. In all suits on a policy of * * * life, * * * or sick benefit insurance * * * in case of life insurance, at the domicile of the deceased or his beneficiary.”

Defendant contends that it is a beneficent or benevolent association and not an insurance company, and that it is not liable to the provisions of this article of the Code of Practice, and can only be sued in the parish of Lafayette.

The question of jurisdiction was submitted to the court on an agreed statement of facts.

The articles of agreement whereby the Thibodaux Benevolent Association exists, offered in evidence, declare that Thibodaux Benevolent Association Circle 3 is a co-partnership.

The Civil Code, book 3, title 11 (articles [765]*7652801-2890), contains the law on the subject of partnership. It is stated in the articles of agreement that it is to have duration for 99 years, and makes no provision on the subject of profits and loss. On the death of a member, the association is to continue with new members for the period of time stated. The purpose of the association is, not to form a partnership, but to provide a fund, upon the death of a member to be collected from the membership for the benefit of the beneficiary of the member deceased.

The testimony of the president, Dudley J. LeBlane, taken by commission, in answer to interrogatory 31, shows, in connection with the article of agreement, that the association is a form of life insurance.

We copy from Yance on Insurance (Horn-book Series) sec. 30, p. 58 et seq., as follows:

“Life Insurance by Mutual Benefit and Adjustment Associations. — The fact that the various benefit associations include insurance upon the lives of their members as only one of the many functions undertaken by them, has induced many authorities to make statements implying that insurance -by such associations is peculiar and not subject to the rules of law applying to the ordinary contract of life insurance. This, however, is not correct. Por whatever may be the ultimate motive of the members of such benefit associations and however true that their membership may be based on the fraternal desire of mutual aid and for the promotion of social pleasures, yet the right of members to demand the benefits due in case of sickness or death, in accordance with the terms of the membership certificate, is purely a contract right, and none the less subject to the rules of law applying to life insurance, because of its intimate connection with the other benevolent purposes of the association. — It may therefore be. properly said that so far as the contract of membership in such benefit associations provides for the contingent payment of money in case of sickness or death, the agreement is one purely of life insurance, and in no wise different from the contract of similar effect made by the so-called ‘Old Line’ companies.”

The distinction between a membership certificate in a benefit association and the contract in an old line policy is then taken up by the author, but the distinction leaves unaltered the paramount fact that a benefit or benevolent association is a form of life insurance.

Bacon on Benefit Societies & Life Insurance (3rd Ed.) vol. 1, sec. 50 et seq., p. 81 et seq., and Ruling Case Law, vol. 19, subject, Mutual Benefit Societies, sec. 7, p. 1185, are to the same effect. The question of jurisdiction is considered in section 106, p. 1318.

The Code of Practice takes no account of the different forms of life insurance in providing where they may be sued. The exception to the jurisdiction of the court was, in our opinion, properly overruled.

The plaintiff sued the defendant by the name given in the articles of association, citing it through its president, Dudley J. LeBlane.

The defendant excepted, urging “that the Thibodaux Benevolent Association is an unincorporated association of persons, and plaintiff’s petition fails to make the members thereof parties defendant.” This exception was submitted to the court on an agreed statement of facts contained in the record.

Defendant cites Civil Code, art. 446, and Workingmen’s Accommodation Bank v Converse, 29 La. Ann. 369, and other au[766]*766thorities, to which we add Soller v. Mouton, 3 La. Ann. 541.

The article of the Civil Code has reference to corporations unauthorized by law. This defendant is an unincorporated organization authorized by law.

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Sheridan v. Thibodaux Benevolent Ass'n
134 So. 360 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1931)

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134 So. 360, 19 La. App. 762, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sheridan-v-thibodaux-benevolent-assn-lactapp-1931.