106 Iowa 457 | Iowa | 1898
I. The questions certified are stated as follows: First. Whether the provisions of the certifícale of membership, stating that the by-laws of the association are made a part thereof, is sufficient to authorize the introducá :i of said by-laws in evidence in behalf of the defendant and on the trial for the purpose of showing the plaintiff’s assignor had been suspended from membership at the time he received his injury, and that, under said by-laws, he was therefore not entitled to any benefits under his said certificate of membership, a copy of said by-laws not being attached to or indorsed on said certificate; the evide.ice failing to show any knowledge
It is the law that members of mutual associations are bound to take notice of, and be governed by, its by-laws. See Simeral v. Insurance Co., 18 Iowa, 319; Coles v. Insurance Co., 18 Iowa, 425; Walsh v. Insurance Co., 30 Iowa, 133. It is also the law that, where the contract of insurance makes-by-laws adopted after the making of the contract a part of the contract, the insured is bound to tak¿ notice of them and be governed thereby. Hobbs v. Association, 82 Iowa, 107.
Appellee’s objection to appellant’s offer of an authenticated copy of its by-laws in evidence seems to have been sustained for two reasons: First, because no copy of the "by-laws was attached to or indorsed on the certificate; and, second, because the evidence failed to show knowledge on the part of the assured of the plan of insurance or of the by-laws prior to the filing of the answer herein.
Section 2, chapter 211, Acts Eighteenth General Assembly, provided that all insurance companies should, upon the issuing of the policy, “attach to such policy, or indorse thereon, a true copy of any application or representations of the assured, which, by the terms of such policy, are made a part thereof, or, of the contract of insurance, or referred to therein,, or which may in any manner affect the validity of such
Wo are not referred to any authority which required the appellant to attach or indorse its by-laws upon this certificate. The assured must, be held to have had whatever knowledge this certifícale imparted. The first paragraph thereof recites “that Marion Snyder is entitled to a benefit in the event of personal bodily injuries effected, while a member of this association, through external, violent, and purely accidental causes;” and he is spoken of throughout the certificate as a member of the association. This, and the provisions of the certificate generally, are such as to show that the certificate was upon the mutual plan, and the appellant a mutual association.
The certificate of membership contains the following: “The consideration of this insurance is, and shall be, the warranties and agreements contained in the application therefor, which, with the by-laws of this association now in force or hereafter enacted by the members of'this association, are made a part thereof, and the payment, when due, of the various calls which may have been made thereon.” By this the assured was not only informed that there were by-laws, but also that they were made a part of the contract. He was not only bound by the law, as a member of this mutual association, to take notice of its by-laws, and be governed thereby, but he was also bound by his contract; and, being thus bound, it cannot be said that the evidence fails to show any knowledge or notice to the assured of the plan of insurance or of the
