Peyre v. Mutual Relief Society

Foote, C. — The plaintiff sued the defendant, a corporation of which he was a member, for damages. The complaint was demurred to as showing no cause of action. The demurrer was sustained, and the plaintiff refusing to amend, final judgment went in favor of the defendant, from which the plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

The corporation appears from the complaint to be a benevolent association “ for a purpose where pecuniary profit is not their object.” It has no capital stock, nor any property, except five thousand dollars in cash, a fund made up of sums received from time to time of its members, from fees, fines, and assessments, which fund is under the control of the association, “to be used by it for benevolent purposes, to wit, in and about pecuniarily aiding and sustaining those of its members who become sick or distressed.”

It is not alleged that the plaintiff is either sick or distressed.

One of the articles of the constitution or instrument of association of the corporation is:—

[243]“article liii.

“A member who vio"ates one of his or any of his obligations towards the society, who is found guilty of intemperance whilst he receives benefits, who lends himself to habits tending to call forth, either upon himself or the society, contempt or reproach, shall be, for the said facts and reasons, responsible to the society, and upon proof shall, according to the decision of the society, be condemned to pay a fine, suspended, expelled, or released of his trust if holding a position of trust,” etc.

By virtue of this article the plaintiff was suspended from membership in this benevolent association for the period of five years, and on this account he seeks to recover, in this action, damages against the corporation in the sum of ten thousand dollars, alleged to have resulted from the sentence of suspension rendered against him.

The offense charged against him by one of the members of the association, although called “forgery” in a communication to the society signed by the member making the charge, appears to have been that of false impersonation in a matter between the association and the French authorities, where the plaintiff, in assuming to conduct its business as a member of the society, had falsely represented himself to the French minister of foreign affairs as the “ captain in command of the company of French zouaves.” This charge, it seems, the society determined to be true, and that it was such misconduct as warranted the association in holding it a breach, by the plaintiff, of his obligation against the society, and punished him by suspension. The defendant, being a private corporation formed by the voluntary association of its members, not for pecuniary profit, but for benevolent purposes, had the right to provide in its by-laws for the suspension of a member for misconduct. (Civ. Code, sec. 599, subd. 4.)