Journeymen Butchers' Association v. Bristol (1911) · DecisionDepot

Journeymen Butchers' Association v. Bristol

Name: California Superior Court Tentative Rulings
Creator: DecisionDepot
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

California Court of Appeal Dec 1, 1911 No. Civ. No. 872.Published

Before: Kerrigan

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Holding. The court held that the mother of the deceased member was entitled to the benefit fund because the designation of an ineligible beneficiary is equivalent to a failure to designate anyone, and the association's bylaws must be construed to favor legal heirs.

Issues

Whether the designation of an ineligible beneficiary in a fraternal benefit certificate is void or ineffectual.
Whether the mother of a deceased member is entitled to the benefit fund when the designated beneficiary is ineligible under the association's bylaws.

Disposition. reversed

Synopsis

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

KERRIGAN, J.

The plaintiff is a fraternal and beneficial organization, of which Charles R. Aubrey was at the. time of

[577]

his death a member in good standing. While such member, in accordance with the laws of the plaintiff corporation, there was issued to him a benefit certificate for $500, in which certificate he named as the beneficiary thereof the respondent Alice Bristol. She, although sometimes known by the name Aubrey, was not related to the deceased, and the sole heir left surviving him is his mother, the appellant. Upon the death of Aubrey both respondent and appellant demanded payment of the certificate, whereupon the plaintiff filed a complaint in interpleader against them, in which, while it denied the claim of appellant to any interest in the fund, it offered to pay the money into court “for the use and benefit of the person or persons, if any, found to be entitled thereto.” Subsequently the $500 was by plaintiff deposited with the clerk of the superior court for that purpose.

The provision of the laws of the plaintiff which governs the question as to who is entitled to this fund reads as follows:

“In case of the death of a member in good standing, the benefits shall be paid to his legal heirs designated in the application for endowment certificates. If one or more members of the beneficiaries shall die during the lifetime of the member, the surviving beneficiary or beneficiaries shall be entitled to the benefits equally, unless otherwise provided in the application for endowment certificate; and if all the beneficiaries shall die during the lifetime of a member, and he ¿hall have made no other provision, or no legal heir shall appear within twelve calendar months from the death of a member, the certificate shall be null and void.”

Organizations like the plaintiff are generally created and instituted for the aid and relief of the families of deceased members, and usually their laws provide that the beneficiary of the fund must be a relative, and dependent on the deceased member, and that the appointee must be one of that class.

(Caldwell

Grand

Journeymen Butchers' Association v. Bristol

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Synopsis

KERRIGAN, J.

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