Hass v. Mutual Relief Ass'n of Petaluma

TEMPLE, J. The complaint in this case inter alia shows that the defendant is an incorporation, the purpose of which is to secure certain money benefits to the friends of deceased members. By-laws are set out which promise to the nominee of a member dying in good standing “one dollar in coin for every member of this association in good standing at the time of said death.” Also a by-law which provides that the nominee of a deceased member who had been such member for ten years, “shall receive two thousand dollars, though the association may not have that number of members at the time of his death.”

[8]It is averred tbat one Lena Brenner became a member of the defendant, and having made the plaintiff her nominee, died on the fifth day of June, 1894; that she was a member in good standing at the time of her death, and had been such member for more than ten years immediately prior to her death. Due presentation of her claim to defendant and its rejection are averred.

The answer admits the facts set up, except that in effect it Shows that only a portion of the contract is set out in the complaint, and proceeds to show the other portions of the contract, which provide that the balance of the two thousand dollars over and above the number of members is payable only out of the reserve fund of the association when there is a surplus in such fund over fifty thousand dollars sufficient to meet such further payment. It is averred that there was not at 'the time of Lena Brenner’s death, and has not since been, a surplus fund equal to fifty thousand dollars or exceeding thirty-five thousand dollars.

It also avers that the membership of the association at the time of Lena Brenner’s death was only eight hundred, and it denies that there was due to plaintiff, as the nominee of Lena Brenner, any sum in excess of eight hundred dollars, which sum had been allowed, tendered and refused.

At the trial the plaintiff submitted her case upon the pleadings, and the defendant then proved the existence of the by-law set up in the answer and put in evidence, which tended to show that at the time of Lena Brenner’s death there was not, nor has there been since, fifty thousand dollars in the reserve fund, or even of assets belonging to the defendant. After some evidence in rebuttal the court found that all the allegations in the complaint are true, but fether found the contract as alleged in the answer. It also found that paragraph three of section six was not in force when Lena Brenner became a member, and that the reserve fund at the time of Lena Brenner’s death amounted to $54,222.90. The court further found that prior to 1893 the defendant had paid dividends to certain of its members to the amount of $84,458, and also in 1893 the sum of $2,489; that all such payments were made out of the reserve fund with intent to reduce the fund to less than fifty thousand dollars, and thereby evade payment of the indebtedness of two thousand dollars. Judgment was rendered for the plaintiff for the sum of $2,105.40 and costs of suit.