1 Pa. Super. 613 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1896
Opinion by
The Pittsburg Council No. 117 Junior Order of United American Mechanics of Allegheny County was chartered September 3, 1889.
. The object of the association, as stated in its charter, is “ to maintain and promote the interests of American mechanics by assisting them in obtaining employment and encouraging them in business; and establishing a sick and funeral fund from contributions made to said fund by members of this corporation.”
In considering questions growing out of organizations of this character and when the rights of individual members of the corporation are involved, courts of justice should exercise the utmost care in determining conflicting claims between members and the organization to which they belong.
That the learned judge in the court below realized this duty and fearlessly and impartially performed it is fully demonstrated by an examination of the record. We might rest this case and affirm it on the charge of the learned trial judge but the specifications of error raise questions which it is our duty to notice. The facts of the case are fully stated and analyzed in the charge of the court below and it is unnecessary for us to restate them.
While the by-laws provided that at the death of a member entitled to benefit, the other members should each be assessed
In considering the second assignment of error we have carefully examined the testimony for evidence of the mailing of a notice of the death of the member evidently referred to, and have failed to discover it. The only notice referred to in the testimony of Mr. D. J. Lewis is that of November 9, 1893, and he swears that he does not know whether that letter included the notice of the death assessment of Mr. Cooper or not. The court was asked to charge that the mailing of notices to the members of the death and assessment of a deceased member was all that was necessary. The court affirmed the point with the qualification that before the member can be considered in
On the 9th day of November, 1898, Mr. Crumpton was notified that he was indebted to the council in the sum of $3.10. Soon after that he sent to the council $5.00 and had a credit of $1.90 standing to his account, and was clearly entitled to have it applied to the payment of the weekly dues in>the absence of any notice from the council of any death assessments, which he had a right to expect if any such had been levied from the custom of the secretary to send such notices. The court was asked by the plaintiff to charge the jury that Mr. Crumpton, in the absence of any notice of any other claim, had a right to rely upon the application of the money standing to his credit, to the payment of his dues. The point was affirmed and the appellant has assigned the affirmation of this point for error in its third assignment. It was vital to the rights of Mr. Crumpton whether the money to his credit should be applied to the payment of his dues which would leave him in good standing up to and including March 22, 1894; or whether he should be deprived of his good standing by the charge of a death assessment against his account, of which he had no knowledge or notice. The third assignment is overruled.
The fourth assignment involves the construction of a by-law of the council which reads, viz: “ Each contributing member shall be assessed ten cents additional, every three months, which amount shall be forwarded quarterly to the American Defense Association to aid them in their endeavor to secure legislation restricting immigration.” It is apparent from the language of this by-law that it is foreign to the purposes of this council as expressed and set forth in its charter, and they had no right to pass any such by-law or to charge any member’s account with contributions levied under its provisions. If the subject-matter of a by-law is clearly alien to the nature of a corporation and is a departure from the purpose, such a by-law is ultra vires, and void: People v. Chicago Board of Trade, 43 Ill. 119; Taylor v. Griswold, 14 N. J. L. 227; Commonwealth v. Gill, 3 Wharton, 228.
In the fifth assignment of error complaint is made of the language of the court in the closing part of the charge to the
This case hinged upon two questions of fact, both of which were fairly submitted to the jury, and by their verdict they have found that Herbert B. Crumpton at the time of his death was in good standing and that the plaintiff in this case is entitled to the benefit fund sued for. The judgment is affirmed.