141 Iowa 414 | Iowa | 1909
The appellant is an assessment association, and in 1903 it issued a policy of $2,000 on the life of Sheridan H. Griffith. All dues and assessments were regularly paid until April 30, 1907, at which time there became due on said policy an assessment or call that was made in March. Whether this assessment was paid is the only question for determination. The defendant had made the Citizens’ Bank of Bedford, Iowa, its depositary, and had directed its certificate holders in that vicinity to pay their calls at said bank. The authority under which the bank acted for the defendant, and its only authority to transact its business, was contained in a writing which appears in the record. The authority therein conferred upon the bank, so far as collections were concerned, was contained in the following excerpts from the writing: “We furnish you with the necessary remittance blanks. Our members will present deposit slips. Stamp the call ‘paid’ and mail the addressed postal card to us. . . .
It is said, however, that the bank should have had in mind Mr. Griffith’s membership, and should have known that a call had probably been made upon him for the last assessment. If the appellee’s contention as to this be conceded, it still remains true that, as Mr. Griffith had the right to pay the call directly to the home office, the bank acting as the agent of the defendant was not bound to know that he had not so paid it or that it was unpaid when-the time within which payment could have been made had expired. That the alleged agreement did not constitute a payment is clear. It does not bring the case within the rule announced in the British & American Mortgage Co. v. Tibballs, 63 Iowa, 468, and Griffin v. Erskine, 131 Iowa, 444, relied upon by the appellee.
For the reasons pointed out, the judgment must be reversed.