Supreme Lodge Knights v. Foster

59 N.E. 877, 26 Ind. App. 333, 1901 Ind. App. LEXIS 260
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 1901
DocketNo. 3,401
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 59 N.E. 877 (Supreme Lodge Knights v. Foster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Supreme Lodge Knights v. Foster, 59 N.E. 877, 26 Ind. App. 333, 1901 Ind. App. LEXIS 260 (Ind. Ct. App. 1901).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

Appellee sued appellant and recovered judgment upon a certificate of membership alleged to have been issued by appellant upon the life of her husband, Frank O. Foster. The certificate of membership is made a part of the complaint.

The first and second specifications of error question the sufficiency of the complaint. The third, the action of the court in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment in its favor on the answers of the' jury to interrogatories. The fourth, in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

Objection to the complaint is made upon two grounds: (1) That while the complaint alleges that the appellant executed the certificate sued upon, the certificate itself shows that it was issued by the board of control of the endowment rank Knights of Pythias. The complaint is as follows: “The said plaintiff, Anna M. Foster, complains of the said defendant, the Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias, and says that on the 10th day of May, 1897, the said defendant, in consideration of the payment to it of a certain membership fee of $2, together with the payment to it of the sum of $1.60 as first monthly payment and monthly instalment [335]*335of annual dues for the mouth in which the application of Frank O. Foster for membership in the endowment rank hereinafter mentioned was accepted, which sums were paid by said Frank O. Foster, issued and delivered to this plaintiff’s husband, the said’Frank O. Foster, who was then in full life, but since deceased, its certificate of membership in the endowment rank of the Order of Knights of Pythias, whereby the said defendant promised and agreed to pay this plaintiff the sum of $2,000 out of the endowment fund of the said rank, in accordance with, and under the laws governing the payment of benefits, upon due notice and satisfactory proof of the death of her said husband; that her said husband died on the 2nd day of November, 1898, at the city of Jeffersonville in the county of Clark and State of Indiana; that at the said time said certificate of membership was issued and delivered as aforesaid, she, plaintiff, was, and remained the wife of said Frank O. Foster until his death; that on the — day of November, 1898, this plaintiff furnished the said defendant with proof of the death of said Frank O. Foster, and performed all the conditions of said certificate of membership to be performed by her; plaintiff alleges that the said Frank O. Foster performed all the conditions of the said certificate of membership upon his part to be performed; plaintiff files herewith a /Copy of said certificate of membership marked A, together with a copy of the application therein referred to, which is by this reference made a part hereof, and plaintiff also files herewith a copy of the constitution, and general laws, rules, and regulations of the said rank marked B, and by this reference thereto made part hereof; plaintiff alleges that the said defendant has not paid said sum, or any part thereof, and that the same is now due and remains wholly unpaid. Wherefore plaintiff demands judgment for $3,000 and all other proper relief.”

It will be observed that the complaint alleges that appellant issued the certificate in suit. In the case of the Su [336]*336preme Lodge, etc., v. Edwards, 15 Ind. App. 524, which, was an action against the Supreme Lodge of Knights, of Pythias of the World, counsel for appellant insisted, as in the case at bar, that the complaint was bad because the certificate did not upon its face purport to have been issued by the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, but rather by the endowment rank of that order, and invoked the familiar principle that where there is a conflict between the complaint and the written contract upon which it is founded, the latter must control. The court held the complaint good, and in the course of the opinion said: “Under the authorities, the express allegations of the complaint that appellant did execute the contract, must be deemed controlling in the absence of a plea of non est factum. They are equivalent to an averment that the appellant executed the certificate by the name and style in which it is signed. Lucas v. Baldwin, 97 Ind. 471; Napier v. Mayhew, 35 Ind. 276; Jackson v. Burgert, 28 Ind. 36; Farley v. Harvey, 14 Ind. 377; Hunt v. Raymond, 11 Ind. 215; 4 Thomp. Corp., §5037.” The identity of the question presented in that case and the case at bar disposes of the first objection made.

The other objection to the complaint is that it contains no averment that at the time of his death Foster was in good standing under the laws of the order. The portions of the certificate pertinent to the question thus presented read as follows: “In consideration of the payment by said member of the prescribed membership fee and of the payments hereafter to said endowment rank of all monthly payments, assessments, and dues as required, and the full compliance with all the conditions herein contained, and with the laws, rules, and regulations governing this rank, now in force, or that may hereafter be enacted by the Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias, and the rules and regulations which may be adopted by the hoard of control of said rank, and shall be in good standing under said laws, rules, and regu[337]*337lations, the board of control of the endowment rank Knights of Pythias will pay to Anna M. Poster, his wife, the sum of $2,000 out of the endowment fund of the rank in accordance with" and under the laws governing the payment of benefits, upon due notice and satisfactory proof of death, and good standing in the rank at the time of death,” etc.

The application for membership is made a part of the certificate. In the application if is agreed that if Poster severed his connection with the order there should be no liability upon the certificate. The fact of the standing of a member of the society is a matter peculiarly within the knowledge of the society. In this respect the rules governing benefit societies and ordinary life insurance policies are substantially the same.

In 1 Boone on Code PL §156, it is said: “All that is necessary in the complaint to make out a cause of action upon a policy of life insurance is a statement of the contract, the death of the assured, and the failure to pay as agreed; an allegation that the death of the assured was not caused by the breaking of any of the conditions of the policy is unnecessary, and does not require proof. The plaintiff is not bound to anticipate in the complaint the defense which the defendant may set up, and has a right to rely,' in complaining, upon such averments as state a cause of action, leaving matter which would meet a defense for proof, or argument from proof at the trial. When the answer admits the issuing of the policy and the allegations in the complaint, and alleges a breach of its conditions, the burden of proof is upon the defendant, and the plaintiff is entitled to recover unless the defendant satisfies the court or jury, by a preponderance of evidence, that the conditions had been broken.” Citing Murray v. New York Life Ins. Co., 85 N. Y. 236; 9 Abb. New Cas. 309; Cahen v. Continental Life Ins. Co., 69 N. Y. 300; Jones v. Brooklyn Life Ins. Co., 61 N. Y. 79; Van Valkenburg v. American, etc., Ins. Co., 70 N. Y. 605.

[338]*338The provision in question was for the benefit of the defendant, and is to be taken advantage of by pleading. Lounsbury v. Protection Ins. Co., 8 Conn. 458.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 N.E. 877, 26 Ind. App. 333, 1901 Ind. App. LEXIS 260, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/supreme-lodge-knights-v-foster-indctapp-1901.