135 Iowa 284 | Iowa | 1907
Plaintiff brings this action at law upon a certificate of membership issued by the defendant, which is a mutual benefit association, to one Mittie Jeffries.
Attached as exhibits to the petition are certain written instruments and alleged articles and provisions of the laws and regulations of the defendant association. Among these are the application of the said Mittie Jeffries for membership, the physician’s report of her examination, the certificate of membership, the receipt of the local secretary for the assessment and dues payable May 31, 1905, and the certificate of health for the purpose of reinstatement, signed by the said Mittie Jeffries under date of June 18, 1905. The blank form on which this health certificate is made is in two parts or sections marked “ No. 1,” and “ No. 2,” and is one supplied to the member by the defendant or by the local branch thereof. Form No. 1, which Mrs. Jeffries used, is a statement to the effect that the applicant asks for reinstatement, and as a basis of such reinstatement warrants and declares that she is in sound condition, good health, and temperate habits, and that since the date of her application for membership in said association she has not sustained any personal injuries, nor been afflicted with any disease or sickness whatever, except as set forth by the applicant. To this statement is added reaffirmation of the truth of the statements contained in her original application for membership, and that a suppression of facts in regard to her health or condition either in her first application or in this application for reinstatement shall .work a forfeiture of the rights of herself
To this petition the defendant filed a demurrer, stating as a ground thereof that it appears that the said Mittie Jeffries at the date of her alleged death was not a member in good standing of the defendant association, but, on the contrary, that her certificate of membership had lapsed and was -null and void for the following reasons, to-wit: “ It appears that Mittie Jeffries by the terms of her contract of insurance was obligated to pay the defendant association the sum of 95 cents per month, and the further sum of 15 cents per month as local dues, which payments, in order to keep the said Mittie Jeffries in good standing, should have been made in accordance with the by-laws of the defendant company which are attached to and form a part of the plaintiff’s petition, and particularly in accordance with sections 100 to 105 of the said by-laws which are as followsHere follows what purports to be a copy of the sections or by-laws referred to and set out in full, none of which sections are attached to the petition or pleaded by the plaintiff. Section .100 provides in effect that failure to pay any assessment when due shall operate to suspend the member without any notice from the association. Section No. 101 provides that a suspended member is not entitled to any of the benefits of the society
From the ruling on the demurrer, and from the judgment entered thereon, the defendant appeals.
This conclusion malees it unnecessary for us to consider other questions suggested by the record.
For the reasons stated, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.