44 Neb. 256 | Neb. | 1895
The National Masonic Accident Association (hereinafter called the “association,”) is a corporation organized under
The by-laws of the association provide: “Information of the amount of each required payment — assessment for the payment of benefits or death losses — and of the time when the same is to be paid shall be given by the secretary to each member by mailing a written or printed notice to him, postage prepaid, at his last given post-office address, at least thirty days prior to the maturity of such payment. Notice so given shall be full legal notification of such payment and it shall thereupon be the duty of each member to promptly pay the same to the secretary at his •office in Des Moines, Iowa, on or before such time of maturity. If any member shall fail to pay any required payment on or before the day so fixed his certificate and membership shall cease to be of any force or validity, and can •only be revived by payment thereof. No indemnity or benefits of any kind shall be paid for or on account of any injury received between the time when the delinquent payment became due and the time when the same is received by the secretary at his office.” The articles of incorporation of the association also provide: “Disputed claims shall be adjusted as follows: Should such a claim arise it shall be referred to a committee of three, all of whom shall be master Masons, one to be chosen by the assured or his representative, one by the association, and the two so chosen shall select the third; none of whom shall be relatives of
On the 17th day of April, 1890, George F. Burr was accepted as a member of the association and a certificate of membership of that date duly issued to him. On the 14th of February, 1891, the board of directors of the association made an assessment of three dollars upon each member of the association for the purpose of raising money to pay the •expenses of the association and benefits to members who were justly entitled thereto. On or before the 1st of March, 1891, the secretary of the association mailed in the city of Des Moines, postage prepaid, a notice of this assessment addressed to Burr at his post-office in York, Nebraska. The notice stated the amount of such assessment, and that it would be due and payable at the office of the secretary on the 1st day of April, 1891. Burr did not pay this assessment on or prior to April 1st, 189!. About noon of the ■27th day of April, 1891, Bur.r was injured and made claim to the association for the weekly benefit which it pays to its injured members. The association refused to pay the benefits, and Burr brought this action against it in the district court of York county to recover the benefits which ■lie alleged he was entitled to be paid by the association as the result of his injury and his membership in such association. lie had a verdict and judgment and the association has prosecuted to this court a petition in error.
For the error of the district court in refusing to give the instruction first above quoted its judgment must be and is reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.