13 S.E.2d 179 | Ga. | 1941
1. The Atlanta Police Relief Association having no lodge system of government or ritualistic form of work for the meeting of its chapters, lodges, councils, or other subordinate bodies, it is not a "fraternal beneficiary order" as defined in the Code, § 56-1701; and thus § 56-1703, fixing eligibility of beneficiaries, has no application to beneficiary certificates issued by this association.
2. This association is not a regular insurance company, but is a mutual benefit association. Therefore a member may change the beneficiary named in his membership certificate, without the consent of the beneficiary. The member in the present case having died while in good standing, the last beneficiary named by him is entitled to recover the insurance under the membership certificate.
The Atlanta Police Relief Association was chartered by judgment of the superior court of Fulton County in 1893. It has less than 5000 members, and membership therein is confined strictly to white male policemen of the City of Atlanta. Admission fees ranging from five to twenty-five dollars, dues of one dollar per month, and a post-mortem assessment of two dollars are required of each member. The particular business of the association is *520 stated in the charter to be "the collection of monthly dues from the members, and the reception of such donations as may be voluntarily made by others interested, which shall be expended according to the constitution and by-laws of the society upon such of its members as may be sick and disabled, and for other purposes therein designated." Article 1 of the constitution and by-laws states that the object of the association is the welfare of the members, their families or persons dependent upon them, the accumulation of funds for the relief of its members during sickness or disability, payment of benefits to its members in the case of the death of his wife or a minor child, and payment of death benefits to the families or dependents of deceased members as designated by the member during his lifetime and as appears in his benefit certificate; and for other fraternal purposes. It does not have a lodge system of government or any ritualistic form of work for the meeting of lodges, chapters, councils, or other subordinate bodies. Its officers consist of a president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, and board of trustees. It holds regular meetings monthly. It has two standing committees, finance and relief. Sick members must be visited at least once each day by members of the relief committee, and this committee makes recommendations for sick relief. Sick benefits are paid to members who are sick or disabled, not exceeding sixty days in any one year. Mrs. Lena Feldman was neither related to nor dependent upon Grover C. Fain. Neither of the benefit certificates authorized a change of beneficiaries, but the by-laws and constitution expressly authorized the member to change beneficiaries when and if such member so desired.
Mrs. Ruby B. Fain brought an action, naming Mrs. Lena Feldman and the Atlanta Police Relief Association as defendants, in which she prayed that the claims of herself and the defendant Lena Feldman upon their respective certificates be adjudicated, and that she have judgment against the association for $1000 upon the certificate which she holds and in which she is named as beneficiary. Mrs. Feldman answered, praying that the case be treated as in the nature of an interpleader, in order that the rights of plaintiff and herself to the fund in question might be fully determined in one action, and asked for judgment of $1000 against the association upon the certificate which she holds and in which she is named as beneficiary. The Atlanta Police Relief Association answered, admitting *521
its liability for $1000 either to Mrs. Fain or to Mrs. Feldman, taking an impartial position as between these claims, asking that they be adjudicated, and stating that it was holding the fund in question pending such judicial determination, and that it stood ready and willing to pay the fund to the claimant whom the court might determine to be entitled to receive it. It was agreed by the parties that the association is liable for payment of only one sum of $1000 on the life of the member, Grover C. Fain. All of the foregoing facts were agreed to by all the parties. There being no issue of fact, the case was submitted to the judge without a jury, who rendered judgment in favor of the defendant Mrs. Feldman, holding as a matter of law that she, and not the plaintiff, was entitled to recover the fund in question by virtue of the benefit certificate held by her. To this judgment the plaintiff excepted.
1. The plaintiff contends that the Atlanta Police Relief Association is a "fraternal beneficiary order," and that the limitation upon the classes of persons eligible as beneficiaries fixed by the Code, § 56-1703, is applicable; and from this premise it is argued that Mrs. Lena Feldman, who was neither related to nor dependent upon the member, Mr. Fain, was ineligible as a beneficiary, and that the attempt to name her as such was void, leaving the original beneficiary unchanged. The purposes for which the association was formed, as stated in the charter and by-laws and constitution, indisputably show it to be a mutual benefit benevolent and fraternal society or association. Its primary objective is the promotion and protection of the welfare of its members, who are limited exclusively to white male policemen of the City of Atlanta. As an incident to the realization of this primary objective benefits are paid to its members. It has no capital stock, is not engaged in business for profit, and each member is assessed a membership fee, a monthly fee, and upon the death of a member an assessment is made upon all other members. All funds raised by these methods are used in paying benefits to the members. But to concede that it is a fraternal beneficiary association or order does not necessarily mean that it is the type and class of "fraternal beneficiary orders" as defined in the Code, § 56-1701, *522
to which the provisions of § 56-1703, relating to eligibility of beneficiaries, are applicable. To be classified under § 56-1701 a fraternal beneficiary order must comply with the definition therein. That definition makes it essential that the association have a representative form of government and a lodge system with a ritualistic form of work for the meeting of its chapters, lodges, councils, or other subordinate bodies. The Atlanta Police Relief Association fails entirely to meet these essential requisites, and hence can not be classified under that statute. It is true that this court, in Hewell v. Atlanta Police ReliefAssociation,
2. Having ruled that the Atlanta Police Relief Association is not a fraternal beneficiary society or order as defined by the statutes, the question arises whether a member of such association may change the beneficiary named in his certificate, without the beneficiary's consent. The effect of the ruling of this court in Freeman v. Atlanta Police Relief Association,
In Smith v. Locomotive Engineers Mutual Life AccidentInsurance Association,
Affirmed. All the Justices concur.